How do you feel about the word retard?

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When I was nine and ten, it was a trend among my peers to start substituting the word, "stupid" with "retarded". That was the age when kids started to use adult language to sound "cool". I thought it was too much of a bother to change my vocabulary just to sound "cool", so I never got around to using the word, "retarded". Now that I know how some people get very angry over that word, I'm kind of glad that I never developed that habit.

When someone asked me, "What are you, retarded?" I laughed. It's very hard to offend me. I never feel offended when people call me stupid, a freak, ask what's wrong with me, or make jokes about my ethnicity. I know that not everyone is like that, though.

It depends the way it is bieng used. That accurate descriptive words become unacceptable to use because people use them to bully and insult people irks me.

I hate it. It's an ugly word.

Having been called it one too many times back in my youth, I'm...not entirely fond of it. Context does matter and I've heard it used innocuously enough in certain contexts by people who meant nothing by it, but I'm personally against the word in any form that's not entirely technical (i.e. "flame retardant").

I won't go out of my way to keep people from saying it, but I'm not a fan whatsoever.

Retard, AKA the r word is banned in our household.

i wouldn't call anyone a retard, i can't recall ever doing so, but i've found myself calling things and situations "retarded" more than i used to. it's rare, and i don't know why i do it.

but it's satisfying to find phrases with the same impact, without the meaning or stigma.

i definitely noticed the 10 year old brats picking up the word when i was a lad in school.

My aunt who is 50+ uses it a lot and has an actual hate towards people who have down syndrome but for a legitimate reason. Her and my cousin who was a small baby at the time were walking along a street and some guy with downs threw her and my cousin through a large shop window and they both nearly died from large shards of glass. They both still have scars and my aunt gives down syndrome people evil stares and says don't ever go near them because they're dangerous and unpredictable and shouldn't be allowed to work in a public environment. This of course is all due to the unfortunate incident she had, otherwise I doubt she'd be bothered.

Personally I don't care about the word and have used it a few times but my go to for idiot is "spastic". I have no problem with down syndrome people nor do I care for what my aunt says about them as it doesn't affect me. But yeah our family swears a lot in general so I've never been brought up to care about swearing apart from when you're around old people, but even then I'm from north England and most people I know or bump into swear so much anyway. I hear retarded flung around a lot still.

I could give less of a s**t

that's a good attitude to have in general.

By saying "could" instead of "couldn't", doesn't that mean you do give a s***, when you're capable of giving less of one?

And yes, I really tried to hold back on the passive-aggressive grammar nerdlery, but I'm a weak individual.

Oh wow, that Down's guy should have been locked up since he is a danger to others. Some need to be locked up because they are so violent and dangerous but that is what prison is for when they commit a violent crime but shame we have to wait until they hurt someone to lock them away and too bad it's not for life. Shame my husband had to run into a 7-Eleven to catch a mentally ill woman on camera assaulting him so she could get put away hopefully for help. He never saw her again thank god so maybe they did get her finally because it was no longer his word against hers. But luckily he is pretty forgiving because I wouldn't be and I hate violence and abuse. He isn't traumatized by it either and he acted like it was all okay what she did because she was sick so I told him "No it's not okay. She shouldn't be out in the real world if she is going to be harassing people and abusing them just because she thinks they are someone she knows who have hurt her." She thought my husband was the rapist who raped her as a little girl even though my husband is a lot younger than her so he wasn't even born when it happened.

I know these are rare cases here because I often hear how the mentally ill are more likely to be victims of violence and abuse and the fact they rarely do violent crimes. I know that Down's syndrome isn't a mental illness of course but perhaps that person had more going on than just an intellectual impairment.

I also don't care about the word either. I was called that a lot growing up by other kids and then it became a phrase when I got to high school and kids were calling each other that and the teachers behind their backs.

I'm wondering if it's because you've been told, as we all have, by SJWs, that you can't say that word, anymore? That's why *I* do it----nobody's gonna tell me I can't say a word; I think that's utterly ridiculous!! This PC crap, has GOT to go----if someone doesn't like how a word's being used, "Oh, well----they'll get over it".

Now, that being said, I wouldn't call someone a retard, unless it was someone I knew, and it was understood that it was a joke (that we do that, to each other).

i smiled when you said that skeletons tell me i can't use the word...because that's exactly what i read. i have a chrome addon that changes "ess jay doubleyou" to "skeleton", and i forgot i had it on at that instance.

nobody has come up to me to tell me i can't use "retard", or any other word.

but hooray for defiance!



i can respect that.

I wonder what will happen to the End R-Word campaign if people started to use "intellectually disabled" as an insult. I don't think it'll happen because it's quite long to say (8 syllables vs 3 syllables), but still, I wonder. They'll probably either change their campaign's name and purpose (End Insults) or start a new campaign to end the new insult.

i think "spastic" is the more likely replacement.

The target word just changes.

Around here, yes the word retard makes everyone go bat s**t crazy. But the kids now use the term Ri Ri instead of retard. When called on it, they say they were talking about Rihanna (the singer), who does go by the nick name "Ri Ri". Yeah, I know.

The adults use ADA (pronounced like the woman's name).

The new guy is such an ADA, he blew up when his chair got swapped out.

ADA is for Americans With Disabilities Act. The person has such issues that he needs that to get ADA to keep his job. Swap retard for ADA, the meaning is the same.

People can be really rotten. People don't use the word retard, but there is another word that means the same they will use.

Any word can be turned into a slur.