Why do you find the word "ret*d" offensive?

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ret*d definition:

Verb
Delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment.

Noun
offensive. A mentally handicapped person (often used as a general term of abuse).

ret*d definition:

Adjective
Less advanced, esp. mentally, than is usual for one's age.

Synonyms
backward - delayed

I don't find "ret*d or ret*d" offensive. I used to verbally use them; ever since I joined WP I learned that many aspergians (and probably anyone with a mental condition) hate it, so I have avoided using them. Now, looking at it from a technical standpoint, most aspergians are held back or delayed in some form or another i.e socially, motor issues, etc. I don't consider us handicapped, but some people do, and I guess from a very particular perspective we could be considered handicapped. Aspergians are generally socially less advanced than their peers, however, I think we tend to be intellectually more advanced. Aspergians are probably delayed in certain ways as well.

It's really just a word, and the meaning of the word more or less can apply to aspergians. Of course, there are plenty of types of mental conditions, I'm just using AS as my example because I'm fairly sure that most WP users are aspergians. I understand that in certain context it can be offensive, but generally. it's just a word; like "obese" or "weird".

Most people don't use it according to the dictionary definition, though. They use it to mean "stupid", which is insulting to both the person being called a ret*d, and people who are actually ret*d.

Sometimes doing something that is dumb (putting your hand over an open flame to see if it's hot) can be perceived as ret*d.

Calling somebody doing that ret*d is in context. I don't mind it so long as it's not just thrown around. I can think of many other choice words to call people who are acting aloof. ;)

anybody who would call another person a ret*d might as well be describing themselves.

I tend not to find words like that offensive. If they are used as an insult towards me, then yes I find it offensive, but I never understood this NT tendency to get hysterical about meanings they impose on words and how you "aren't supposed to say that".

I do not find them offensive; doing so would be to politicize them and neglect the history of them. I find words like that great and which more accurate may describe aspects of my life and place it in a wider historical setting.

Yes, I do find it offensive. I think it's disgusting. I wish people wouldn't use it as an insult so causally.

I do find it very offensive.

I do. I also find it offensive how people refer to things they don't like as being "gay". I see this as homophobia even if it's not meant that way. I love gays and it would never occur to me to use that word to describe something as bad since I see that as a good thing. I'd no more use that as an insult than saying something is "beautiful" or "delicious" as an insult.

I also find it offensive when people throw around the word "downie" as an insult.

i grew up the recipient of that word.

I think it became an offensive word because people kept using it in unkind ways with unkind, insulting intentions, to put people down, as in "That ret*d managed to delete my files." said in an angry way about someone who did something stupid.

The word "b***h" may be similar in that sense. The original meaning wasn't offensive, but people kept using it to mean an unpleasant woman. Now it's considered a very offensive word. I guess that's how words evolve.

As you can see in this thread, different people have different perceptions. So, it can also be quite subjective.

I myself find the word "ret*d" rather negative.

My logical understanding of the word' s technical applications does not lessen the pain that has been associated with it. As a young child in Special Education, this very word has been a fear that has sunk into the heads of my parents and added creases around their eyes. Even though my intelligence tested above average, perhaps even gifted in terms of verbal intelligence, even though I was removed from all Special Education services at the end of third grade, even though I can acknowledge that I have my quirks, the word still fills me with an overwhelming sense of being a disappointment and an inadequacy. For me, the word just cuts too deeply into a pain of years past that I have never been quite able to shake.