ret*d, ret*d etc..

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Blacks use the word “n!gger”, especially in rap as a perjorative. Even in that context, I find it demeaning and racist (especially since I’ve been called a “white n!gger” quite a few times in the past, even by both sides of the family. It’s as bad as someone calling mountain folks from Appalachia “hillbillies,” or blacks calling caucasians “crackers” or “honkies.” The only time you should use ret*d is in music, where the Italian Ritardando means to slow down.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ret*d

Worth a look.

My feelings would be hurt if I was called a genius.

Like if I did something stupid and someone said, "way to go genius".

When used that way genius is really offensive.

I was called a ret*d at school by uncaring little pricks. So I have nothing but ill will towards the word. However, I do accept it was once used in a medical context ("developmental delay" is now the preferred term) and will therefore not shout out older people who unwittingly use the term in the medical context.

Everyone is smart in their own way. Our brains are amazingly complex which means people are going to have different talents and be capable of different skillsets...

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

____________________

Everyone is also stupid in an infinite number of ways

If everyone is "smart", then what is so great about being "smart"?

That is like saying "everyone is important". Yeah you are "important". But if the world contains that much importance then what is so great about being "important"?

Quite frankly anyone that had the nerve to judge my intelligence (or lack thereof) is totally arrogant judgmental and has a big ego




Dualism

WPers, They are only words you give them power.

Not much... other than possibly getting paid more (for any unique talents) and being more attractive to others (socially or romantically). "Smart" is very subjective... i.e. many people think that just because they can speak multiple languages it means they're smarter than everyone else, when really they're just trying to appease their ego... we shouldn't really be worrying if we're smarter or dumber than anyone else, because it's all relative... If someone is looking down on someone else, it means they're insecure.

In French the term "ret*d" simply means late , or delayed . https://www.thoughtco.com/en-retard-1371198 But as people should be aware , in English speaking countries , such as the United States of America , the term is one of pejorative contempt . Like for instance , when I was in third grade , before my mother pulled me out to homeschool me , a couple girls would taunt me with "Think think , hard hard , double double ret*d " , then point at me . This was in the year 1993 , before Asperger syndrome had become widely known . And so I suppose that in their minds they regarded my hand flapping stim as being the idiosyncrasy of an idiot . So I do know first hand how spiteful the term can be . However I also feel that contextual intent should be considered as well . After all "tardy" , which is an English word having the same etymological root as the French "ret*d" , also means that one is not punctual . Should this word likewise therefore be banned ? I think that unless such words are used as an ad hominem , no they should not be forbidden . Lest we become like this one Sesame Street character in this video .

Yes but I (and many others) are extremely "insecure"

Someone "smarter" than others does not necessarily have more fiends or romantic prospects. Especially if the allegedly "smart" party is autistic or has multiple personality disorders

"Should" "can" and "will" are three different things

So.... I am "insecure" about:. Intelligence, appearance, transgender, not having a job, not having precious lil "friends". Among numerous other things

When I was younger my precious lil "parents" repeatedly compared me unfavorably to someone else's academically smart Chinese daughter......... Instead of creating motivation, it caused a profound shame

That I have yet to get over

At age 34




Lifetime trauma


The previous counselor had the nerve to try to tell me repeatedly "I know you are smart" in a patronizing voice. And she acted like I had to believe whatever she had the nerve to tell me.

Honestly, it was more emotionally disturbing than when someone told me that I was "stupid"...........

But whatever

Positive or negative judgments about someone else's IQ score are all arrogant condescending and judgmental

I think it is almost NEVER okay to ban something, because when something gets banned, that just makes people want it, all-the-more----they are, IMO, saying: "You're not the boss of me----I say and do what I WANT!!". I think, however, that it depends-on the context----it is NEVER okay on WP to call someone a ret*d, on here; but, nobody's gonna tell me I can't use the word, when referring to MYSELF----or, if the word is used in the correct manner..... For instance, there's a ret*d man in my neighborhood----using "ret*d" in THAT sense, is the CORRECT way to use it, cuz that was, in-fact, his diagnosis (he told me this himself); he's my age, and in those days, that was, INDEED, a diagnosis.

IMO, the only reason that word has ANY value, is because of those who GIVE it value----and, "those" are the people on the receiving end of the word. If we laugh-it-off, or whatever----if we OWN the word----nobody else can use it, against us, cuz we no longer let it have value, when someone else uses it. The OP brought-up calling a black person, a n!gger, and I think that's a very good example, in that black people let that word get to them----so, hateful white people used it, even MORE; and, even though black people took the word, BACK (owned it), they still let it get to them----so, they will often still hear it, because it is known to still be a sore spot, to them. It's just like kids in a schoolyard----they're gonna make fun of each other (that's just life - ESPECIALLY, if they're insecure about themselves); plus, IMO, it quickly identifies the people who are gonna ALLOW them, to bully them, so they get their kicks out of targeting those people.

I TOTALLY agree with what Raleigh and Ezra said, here----ESPECIALLY, the posts about people not seeing how long, for instance, it takes some of us to write posts; cuz, I have taken HOURS to write ONE post. I KNOW I'm retarded----and, like Raleigh said, I don't have a problem with that (I just keep goin' / tryin' - that's all most of us can do).

We have the power to NOT let a word get to us, hurt us, and so-forth----and, ironically, that's exactly what the youngest responder, on this thread, said: "WPers, They are only words you give them power."----BRILLIANT; it never ceases to amaze me, when the youngest of us, seems to have the MOST sense!!

Bottom Line: OP, if you (or, if you see someone else on here, being put-down by someone), receive a "direct hit" (DIRECTLY being called a ret*d), THEN say something to THAT person----and, ONLY that person----but, you can't be telling the rest of us, what we can and can't say (ESPECIALLY, if we use the word, when referring to OURSELVES).

As for:

Who SAYS the U.S. is "way behind"? You're measuring us by YOUR ruler (a U.K. ruler)----*I* measure us, by OUR ruler (a U.S. ruler), and I don't feel we're way behind. I feel we do a great dis-service to ANYBODY not of our culture, when we judge them, by how WE do things (and, that INCLUDES Americans, judging others)! ! What if we're both just "different", from the other----and, NOT wrong? Do you like it when an NT measures YOU, by an NT ruler?


Yes, I DO----cuz, like I said, as soon as one doesn't allow a WORD to get to them, and takes ownership of it, it'll stop being used; simple as that.

And, if you, personally, don't wanna use the word "ret*d", DON'T; simple as that.

The solemn men and women of science began to deal with folks of less than normal IQ a century age. And they classified, and subclassified such people in to categories with names like"imbecile", "idiot", and "moron".

Those words were actually used as clinical labels. And there was a range of IQ for each. Moron was the least severe (some number up to70 IQ). And "idiot" and "imbecile" were the same thing which the lowest range of human intelligence (and there was an actual range of numerical IQ: zero to the lower range of "moron" to define it).

But those same words had been perjoratives for centuries.

So after the War the psychiatric community decided to get rid of those terms and lace them with nicer non perjorative terms. So theyused the fancy French word for "delayed" for the folks that they had been calling "idiots" and "morons". That word ofcourse was "ret*d".

ret*d was originally a euphemism.


But it didn't take long for the word to escape the halls of science and become a playground insult among school kids in the Fifties and Sixties. By the Eighties shrinks began seeking euphemisms for the word that was itself a euphemism.

"Challenged". And like that.

If an argument is valid, then any set of true propositions will result in a true result. Try plugging other propositions into the form of CC's argument. Run down the list of other things we ban, and see if you like the results.

A few people have called me this over the years, the interesting thing was on the people who said this to me also had a monotone voice, talk about projection.

I would just take it as a lame insult and try to brush it off, but I also wish others who stop name-calling me with primary school insults.

Haven't got anything adult to add to this discussion but Cookie Monster rocks , thanks for the link