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Has the word "dumb" been accepted to mean...

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Lecks
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13 Jun 2010, 3:39 pm

donnie_darko wrote:
I hate it when people say "gay". Or "ret*d". Not only does it make you sound bigoted, it makes you sound class-less. Like you're a South Park character or something.

How exactly does using "gay" or "ret*d" to mean "unappealing" or "stupid" make someone a bigot?



Asp-Z
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14 Jun 2010, 3:05 am

League_Girl wrote:
I have to be careful when I use the R word because some people are too sensitive.


I don't mind that word as long as it's not serious. But if someone isn't joking and calls me that, I do get angry. In fact I hit my brother's friend a few days ago for that very reason. Compared to the last person to annoy me, he got off lightly.

But yeah, dumb has meant stupid for ages. But technically the word "idiot" refers to a person who has an IQ below 80.



Janissy
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14 Jun 2010, 8:35 am

Asp-Z wrote:
[But yeah, dumb has meant stupid for ages. But technically the word "idiot" refers to a person who has an IQ below 80.


It used to but it doesn't anymore. The medical community- who are the arbiters of using such words in a technical fashion- retired the word "idiot" many decades ago. They replaced it with the word "ret*d". The word "ret*d" is still in use by the medical community and it still goes onto the medical records of people who score below 70 on an IQ test.Until the medical community picks a new word to put on peoples' medical records and to refer to people in their care who score below 70 on an IQ test, the word will remain offensive when used as an insult.