this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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[–] Aermis@lemmy.world 34 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Is saying the word retarded without calling some it disrespectful? Is it now a trigger word? I'm genuinely wondering. Because when we were growing up we used the word EVERYWHERE. It was as common as saying "fricken"

[–] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It's a slur, that's why. Some slurs are major slurs that are considered offensive even when it's not referring to someone, and I think this is one of them. They're often forbidden because of it, and a lot of people find it easier to follow universal rules than to check the rules of each place they post, because the universal rules will keep you in the clear 95% of the time. And even if not, it's still respectable to not want to use slurs.

And yeah, it did used to be a lot more common. And before that, it was a medical term. That's the way it goes, we have a word to insult people's intelligence, doctors deal with patients who have a disorder causing that, they don't want to use the mean word to refer to the patients, they come up with a new word for it, the word gets out, and then everyone makes it a new word to insult intelligence. Though this one seems to be taking a different track because it hit modern sensibilities, and at the same time I think doctors now know better than to come up with a new word for mental deficiencies.

[–] randy@lemmy.ca 21 points 6 months ago (1 children)

And yeah, it did used to be a lot more common. And before that, it was a medical term.

It's the euphemism treadmill in action.

[–] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago

That's what it's called, okay. I didn't remember the term.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We used LOTS of words then that are now not ok to use. Growing as individuals and groups is a good thing, being attentive to others is a good thing, understanding that you see no offence to a word where others do and changing that behaviour betters everyone.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip -3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

People used to use the n-word all the time, so it must be perfectly OK to say!

This is the exact same argument. It doesn't work, right? Why would it here? Sure, there may (I doubt it, but I'll leave the possibility open) be other reasons why it's OK to say, but throw that argument out.

[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The n-word did not have any other definitions. Something that is retarded is merely delayed or slowed down usually in the context of some task.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It did though? It was used for black things. The word literally means black.

[–] Black_Gulaman@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm not on any side.

But what happens if the word black becomes a slur, or blue or yellow?

Would we give way to those who misuse those words? Let's not be complacent in letting others misuse language. Maybe it's time that we corrected these.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 months ago

Niger is the Latin word for black (not to be confused with the unrelated niger, as in the nation, which is not Latin in origin). We had stopped using it in English for anything but to (negatively) refer to black people. It didn't have any use except as a negative one.

The same thing is true for the r-word, outside of specific contexts like music where to retard is to slow, as from Latin. Using them in the context of music or medicine is fine (which retard isn't used for a medical condition anymore, but when things slow I belive the term is still used, because Latin). Using it to refer to a person or thing a person does is not. That term is only used negatively, which implies neuro-divergent people are bad.

Yellow can be bad also. If you're referring to someone in a negative racist way as yellow, that's not accepted in society, and I don't think you'd disagree. You can still refer to the color, but to use it as an insult it's not good.

We aren't losing words. If they had any use outside of an insult, they still almost always still have those uses. We gain more words to better refer to people of these groups without insulting them though. Language evolves. Some words leave fashion and new ones come into fashion. I don't think we need to be worried about "losing" words where we have perfectly good alternatives to use instead.

[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world -4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah you're not supposed to even say "my son's reading skills are somewhat retarded but we hope he can catch up to his peers". Or "Progess on Trump's border wall has been retarded for various reasons."

[–] Aermis@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago