Wikepedia states
“Much like today’s socially acceptable terms idiot and moron, which are also defined as some sort of mental disability, when the term retard is being used in its pejorative form, it is usually not being directed at people with mental disabilities. Instead, people use the term when teasing their friends or as a general insult.”
Is it only a slur if directed at soneone with mental disabilities? Is it a slur if durected at onself?
Whats lemmies take on this?
I grew up using this word all the time. It’s just one of the dumb words we said all the time. I only found out within the last couple of years that it’s considered a slur. Idk, I feel most people who are actually considered retarded and are competent enough to understand don’t actually care. But the reality is that any sort of “name calling” isn’t necessary. I grew up with a culture of all sorts of name calling, but just because I grew up with doesn’t mean it’s right.
But ultimately, language and the world changes and it’s just not acceptable to say anymore because it is derogatory towards a particular group.
What kind of context did you live in where the word’s relevance came up all the time?
Words change meaning fpr instance idiot and moron still technically mean retarded but through schoolyard insults using them we have changed the meaning to no longer be offensive to any particular group. Why is retard any different from these other words? Also i would recommend reading 1984 for a more nuanced perspective of language policing.
No. It was always a slur. It was still a slur when we were younger, we were just too immature to understand that. It just means that we grew up and learned that it’s denigrating and (most of us) stopped using it once we grasped that.