People Who Think the Word “Retard†Is Funny
My brother is mentally challenged, so when people think it’s cool to use the word “retardâ€, naturally I get offended. What’s worse is that when I ask them to please not use the word, at least around me, they just say that it’s funny and they like it.
Comments
“Retard†just means “slowâ€. The word itself is not offensive.
When has it ever been acceptable to apply that term to the mentally challenged? Given that it is not acceptable to use it in that context, what difference does it make what else it’s applied to? It really is a funny word. It would be a shame to let it go to waste.
“Mentally challenged†is a fairly recent euphemism for an intellectual disability. “Mental retardation†has been the official medical term for quite some time and, in the U.S., was only changed to the former in official government documents last year. I’m just guessing here, but I suspect that the word in its medical sense was deemed offensive after people began making use of it as a general insult.
And now it’s free for us to use willy-nilly. I flip-flop sometimes. I also hyphenate a lot, apparently.
Try not to be so sensitive?