Stop stop stop stop saying this word!!!!!

[Permanent Ban 0]

retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!retarded!v

STFU, you Persian Shoe

Don't call me that. Words hurt.

[Cassie 8]

are you well pleased with yourself, arijit?

[Addie_Goodvibes 0]

yeah, like chopf##k

Much better word

[SMOKE 1,426]

I'd just point it out to that person what a social f##ktard they are.

What's a f##ktard btw?

my guess would be: a retarded chopf##k.

[Nessa 23]

it didn't take long for this thread to go to hell

[Permanent Ban 0]

are you well pleased with yourself, arijit?

yeah im retarded like that

[Cassie 8]

I'm seriously considering closing this thread because I truly am disgusted at some people here, but yet I am tempted to keep it open to show how truly rude they are.

VJ, sheesh.

Edited October 16, 2007 by Cassie

[SMOKE 1,426]

I'm seriously considering closing this thread because I truly am disgusted at some people here, but yet I am tempted to keep it open to show how truly rude they are.

VJ, sheesh.

did you really expect anything else ?

[Cassie 8]

I'm seriously considering closing this thread because I truly am disgusted at some people here, but yet I am tempted to keep it open to show how truly rude they are.

VJ, sheesh.

did you really expect anything else ?

honestly, no, but it saddens me nonetheless.

[Raspect 0]

YES

I do find this word extremely offensive too

Just not proper, means people are not thinking, not reasoning in their own mind.

and to me that is very sad.

and this ARIIIT guy or girl, i am sure it is a guy, to be so silly and absent minded

you are just being very rude, you are trying to be funny, and no offense, but maybe english is not your first language, no problem at all, not even trying to persuade you not to TRY humor, but your humor is not translating at all in English.

Edited October 16, 2007 by Raspect

[Jenn! 918]

Attention-seeking behavior should just be ignored.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well really any word that describes mental illness should surely be avoided? Or just this one colloquialism?

I believe "retardation" was brought in to describe a sliding scale of mental/developmental illness. The terms below all pretty much mean the same thing and have entered common usage as derogatory terms. Is Un-PCing the PC term really that different?

Cretin is the oldest and probably comes from an old French word for Christian. The implication was that people with significant intellectual or developmental disabilities were "still human" (or "still Christian") and deserved to be treated with basic human dignity. This term has not been used in any serious or scientific endeavor since the middle of the 20th century and is now always considered a term of abuse: notably, in the 1964 movie Becket (film), King Henry II calls his son and heir a "cretin." "Cretinism" is also used as an obsolescent term to refer to the condition of congenital hypothyroidism, in which there is some degree of mental retardation.

Idiot indicated the greatest degree of intellectual disability, where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot guard himself or herself against common physical dangers. The term was gradually replaced by the term profound mental retardation.

Imbecile indicated an intellectual disability less extreme than idiocy and not necessarily inherited. It is now usually subdivided into two categories, known as severe mental retardation and moderate mental retardation.

Moron was defined by the American Association for the Study of the Feeble-minded in 1910, following work by Henry H. Goddard, as the term for an adult with a mental age between eight and twelve; mild mental retardation is now the term for this condition. Alternative definitions of these terms based on IQ were also used. This group was known in UK law from 1911 to 1959/60 as "feeble-minded."

In 19th and early 20th century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe mental retardation or a very low IQ level, as a sufferer of cretinism, defining idiots as people whose IQ were below 20 (with a standard deviation of 16);

In current medical classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation, and the word "idiot" is no longer used as a scientific term.

The California Penal Code Section 26 states that "Idiots" are one of six types of people who are not capable of committing crimes.[9]

In several states, idiots do not have the right to vote:

Arkansas Article III, Section 5[10]

Iowa Article II, section 5[11]

Kentucky Section 145[12]

Mississippi Article 12, Section 241[13]

New Jersey (Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 6)[14]

January 2007 to remove "idiot or insane" and add the qualifying phrase "who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting." This proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at the next general election occurring more than three months after the final agreement. This constitutional amendment shall become part of the New Jersey Constitution upon approval by the voters. [15])

New Mexico Article VII, section 1[16]

Ohio (Article V, Section 6)[17]

[Empress of Groovy 373]

I have to agree with the posts saying that most people who use retarded as a casual insult are not making a mean-spirited reference to people with mental disabilities.

I grew up using the word in this casual way (say, 25 years ago, so the use is not new). It was more or less equivalent to moron, and only when I was in high school did a teacher who worked with special ed kids point out that this could be offensive. I was surprised and embarrassed. I think there might be a regional aspect to this as well. I grew up in Massachusetts (it's pronounced "reetaah-did" in the Boston area), where perhaps this casual use was more common and thus less offensive. Nowadays, even the term mentally retarded is increasingly being replaced by mentally disabled, developmentally disabled, and so on, so maybe that contributes to the use of retarded as a term not as strongly associated with intelligence as in the past. Just a thought.

[Mags 112]

I HATE the word "retarded". Just the same way as I hated the word "spastic" in the UK. Both used in the same context and just as insulting. SO yes, I agree with you, Cassie 100%.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I HATE the word "retarded". Just the same way as I hated the word "spastic" in the UK. Both used in the same context and just as insulting. SO yes, I agree with you, Cassie 100%.

What about "Nutter"? That's surely a stigmatised term in much the same way... Pretty much means the same thing doesn't it, only for someone with a mental illness like Schizophrenia or something similar. I think its interesting that people seem to view developmental disorders rather different from broader mental disorders.