The word retard dates as far back as 1426. It stems from the Latin verb retardare, meaning “to hinder” or “make slow”.
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 intellectual disabilities. Instead, people use the term when teasing their friends or as a general insult.
ignoramous: 1570s, originally an Anglo-French legal term (early 15c.), from Latin ignoramus “we take no notice of, we do not know,” first person plural present indicative of ignorare “not to know, take no notice of” (see ignorant).
your comment used it as a zeugma. the term described who you were speaking to as “one who is ignorant” as well as being used as a tongue-in-cheek soliloquy, using a Latin term when you had announced none were present, which used the original definition of “we take no notice of, we do not know”.
it’s quite clever, though I doubt you meant to do it 😆.
Good, so you would understand that today the R word in 99% of any realistic context is going to be a slur. Stop trying to “um akshually” defend the usage of it.
One thing I don’t like about this approach, which I have seen mostly coming from the US but also in other places, is that with the best intentions people identify a problem. Once the problem is identified some plausible solutions are discussed. A bit of attention is placed into how to act in everyday life to limit such an issue. An often proposed option, mostly in the US - I have not seen this in other places, is to stop using words that may have an influence in aggravating or normalising such a problem.
All this is good thinking and a great way to address the problem, but eventually many people forget what the actual objective of such action was and end up discussing about the usage of words rather than the actual problem.
I’m pretty sure the person above did not mean to insult people with medical conditions in any way. Is the whole of this discussion actually important in any way? Are you actually helping people with mental diseases by pointing this out?
I’m pretty sure the person above did not mean to insult people with medical conditions in any way.
I’m sure they didn’t. However, they’re using a term that is very offensive to some people, which they may be unaware of. That’s why it was pointed out. If they want to be an asshole and continue using it anyway, that’s on them.
I use the term as a general insult towards people who seem hellbent on never learning from their mistakes. Like when people keep voting for politicians who openly advocating for violence against those same people, or when people keep getting in car accidents because they think everyone else is the problem (Oh the irony though).
Would never use it towards someone medically incapable of learning from their mistakes, that’s just cruel and not their fault.
Yea, and from the same wiki article:
We’re not speaking bloody Latin ya ignoramus.
this is either the perfect comment that uses the word “ignoramus”, or the worst insult.
I’m still not sure if you actually meant to do it or not.
I chose it for its Latin-ness, if that’s what you’re asking.
your comment used it as a zeugma. the term described who you were speaking to as “one who is ignorant” as well as being used as a tongue-in-cheek soliloquy, using a Latin term when you had announced none were present, which used the original definition of “we take no notice of, we do not know”.
it’s quite clever, though I doubt you meant to do it 😆.
No, we’re speaking English. Do you know the definition of etymology?
Do you understand semantic shift?
That’s specifically what I’m referring to.
Good, so you would understand that today the R word in 99% of any realistic context is going to be a slur. Stop trying to “um akshually” defend the usage of it.
One thing I don’t like about this approach, which I have seen mostly coming from the US but also in other places, is that with the best intentions people identify a problem. Once the problem is identified some plausible solutions are discussed. A bit of attention is placed into how to act in everyday life to limit such an issue. An often proposed option, mostly in the US - I have not seen this in other places, is to stop using words that may have an influence in aggravating or normalising such a problem. All this is good thinking and a great way to address the problem, but eventually many people forget what the actual objective of such action was and end up discussing about the usage of words rather than the actual problem.
I’m pretty sure the person above did not mean to insult people with medical conditions in any way. Is the whole of this discussion actually important in any way? Are you actually helping people with mental diseases by pointing this out?
I’m sure they didn’t. However, they’re using a term that is very offensive to some people, which they may be unaware of. That’s why it was pointed out. If they want to be an asshole and continue using it anyway, that’s on them.
I’m offended by being considered “some people”. I’m not “people” I’m a person.
in recent history, I was always grouped into social hierarchies as “you people”.
it’s very offensive, you should stop calling us “people” and start using the word “person” or “persons”.
I use the term as a general insult towards people who seem hellbent on never learning from their mistakes. Like when people keep voting for politicians who openly advocating for violence against those same people, or when people keep getting in car accidents because they think everyone else is the problem (Oh the irony though).
Would never use it towards someone medically incapable of learning from their mistakes, that’s just cruel and not their fault.