The Word 'Retard': Stop Using It

I've got a word for you to get on peoples case about:'like'. As in," I was, like, going to the store, and I'm like, driving down the street, and I saw my friend, and she's like, "where are you going?" and I'm like," I'm going to the...." I am so sick of this. Even people in their 30s talk like this. Why don't you people grow up? Say what you mean without sounding like a parody of a valley girl !

The R word. The N word. The F word. The S word. There seems to be a forbidden word for just about every letter of the alphabet. Really. In Europe, there are no forbidden words, even for use in public TV and newspapers. Americans are too PC, too sensitive, too hung up on language and sex. Probably comes from our Puritanical origins. But it's been 400 years since then. Get over it.

Jane, you misspelled the word "your" by spelling it "you're" which is a contraction of the words "you" and "are." You can tell this because of the use of an apostrophe; this is usually taught and learned in the first or second grade. Would it be hurtful to call YOU a "retard" now? Or is it "gay" of me to point that out? (Yet another descriptive word turned into a pejorative that offends a lot of innocent people.) Words lead to actions: choose yours carefully.

Quit trying to make the language politically correct. The word "retard" has many usages other than to hurt. Besides retard in the way you define it could easily be replaced with another word or words that could be used improperly to hurt. Besides when you define a word to be improper (and some cases a cause for legal action) when used towards a particular group than you must also insure that the now protected group do not in turn use derogatory of offensive words towards any other group. Example: The "N" word for blacks; "white crackers" for whites. And please don't give me you have to put it in historical context BS like our AG did when he defended his position on voting rights. If it's wrong for one group (white) to use the "N" word to insult blacks, then it is also just as wrong for blacks to use "white crackers" to insult whites, period. As for me, I wish none of this language correctness ever took place because where does is stop. BTW for the record I'm not white.

this subject is retarded!!

I'm nearing 60 years old, never could walk, and was either carried or rolled around in some contraption or other for my first 6 or 7 years. I've been using a wheelchair since then. I have spastic Cerebral Palsy.

Some people are cruel and will NEVER stop saying "Retard" as a slur or a way to get under others' skin. I know, beause unknowliigable people have judged me "Retarded" simply because they see the wheelchair and assume that I'm mentally retarded. What they don't know is that I hold a BA in Psychology.

I don't condone using the word, but at least you know who your enemies are and who to stay away from.

You CANNOT change an ignorant or insensitive person's mind. The best that can be done is to steer clear of them. Frankly, I think it says more about the name-caller than the person called by that name.

What ever happened to the sayings: "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me" and "Living well is the best revenge"?

This whole thing is just retarded!

I disagree.

I have a learning disability. It started way back in 1977 after a brain aneurysm. This "disability" has deprived me of many opportunities. I have lost jobs because I couldn't keep up with everyone else. You can't sugar coat reality. I am man enough to admit I am a retard. My wife divorced me after 5 years. She finally realized I was not like everyone else and could not give her the things she wanted. ($)

I'll always wonder what my life would have been if I was "normal."

Mild to moderate mental retadation is still used as a medical diagnosis. It's not derrogatory in the context that it's used.

I think we need to start ignoring people who don't know any better or just plain cruel. Their opinion or their words are not the end all of everything and everyone must realize that. Remember the phrase "Sticks and stones...?" We need to stop making being offended by everything a major occupation. People are stupid and they will continue to be so no matter how much you change the language for that term. We all have to grow a skin and stop being offended by everything. Being PC is actually dividing people, not bringing them together and that kind of thought should be stopped. Have respect for your fellow man and go about your business. Everyone is different. No two people are the same unless they are twins and even then they are different also.

Ok there Jane. I have to speak up.
It is now outlawed in most schools where I live and the two counties nearest me to use the "R" word.

And I agree that we need to teach our children.....THAT IT IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE TO USE DEROGATORY WORDS....maybe that way as adults they won't HAVE to teach their children that hmm?? Maybb if people would start teaching their children to respect others and embrace their differences the world might just be a better place...its people who say "they just ahve to get used to it since they will be around it anyways" who really chafe me. How about taking a stand and teaching your children to be better rather than teaching them to accept the status quo.

What Jane said. She hit the nail on the head. I felt sorry for Jennifer Aniston when the media came down on her for using the word. Kids call other kids 'retard' when they act goofy - they don't even think about it pertaining to a person with real physical,neurolgical or mental issues because that's not necessarily how we refer to a handicapped person. So - just deal with all the political incorrectness in the world. It ain't gonna change.

No, because it's not acceptable. Plenty of people who are supposedly "mentally defective" are perfectly capable of handling responsibility, holding down jobs and caring for themselves. The reason they have special needs is because they respond to stimuli differently. That doesn't make them defective and to suggest that they are broken or incapable is ignorant.

It hurts no one to check their word choice and this goes for using "gay" as a negative term as well. By removing the stigma from words like this, we promote tolerance and healthy social progress.

This is to Alicia, I can't reply to her comment for some reason.

Not all "mentally-defective" people are capable of taking care of themselves. A lot of them have to have a care-taker with them.

Responding to Alicia, There are some disabled who are able to fully or nearly fully participate in society- Hold jobs, have an apt, have friends, socialize,etc. However, I've been working in "multi-handicapped" units (9 yrs) in high school mostly, a little in elementary. The traumatic brain injury teenage girl (car accident-hit by a drunk driver) is NEVER going to come anywhere close to what you're describing. She cannot feed herself, she cannot even take in nutrition by mouth because she kept getting pneumonia; she cannot dress herself, she cannot hold herself upright in a chair, she cannot do ANYTHING for herself. The severe autistic young man who attacks teachers & staff, & terrifies the other students, isn't either- When he goes "off" at home, his mother calls the cops! Or how about some of the people with severe cerebral palsy, who are not only severely developmentally delayed, but are also effectively blind (cortical visual impairment), or deaf, or unable to speak, or all three. You have to have SOME kind of sensory input that works and/or a receptive brain, in order to get past the emotional and/or psychological age of a 3 yr old. IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT! I've seen students do well d/t the hard work of themselves, their parents, their teachers, their neighbors &/or churches. DO NOT for one moment think that this is easy, or that it can be accomplished without major outside help- And, if the parents aren't willing to commit their time, resources (not necessarily money, but interest, willing to do research as to what is best for their child, & follow through) , You can mandate "No Child Left Behind" all you want, with very little discernible improvement, if the only people "fighting for" then child are school staff. I've seen it. It isn't pretty.

Alicia, it's much more than that people who are cognitively challenged (we used to call them simply "stupid" or "feeble-minded") respond to stimuli differently. It is that often they don't have the cognitive wattage to process what they are experiencing in ways that support their getting from point A to point B without problems. And yes, this lack of cognitive wattage is a defect, although those under the spell of political correctness might not want to call it that. I, too, don't like the use of the words "retarded" or "retard," but not for the same reasons that most people don't. I don't like these words because they suggest that, in time, these folks may "catch up," which is just not going to happen. Of course, there are degrees of stupidity or of feeble-mindedness, hence the need for evaluations of functional ability, to determine what activities of daily living (caring for oneself, holding some kind of a job, etc.) a cognitively challenged person can handle. This is in the service of giving them the opportunity to perform to the best of their ability. But it serves no purpose to pretend that there's nothing wrong with these people, because there is.

I'm glad you weren't my high school teacher. I like to believe mine knew the difference between "effected" and "affected."

amanda j, as a Spanish teacher, i may make some of the common English mistakes. My apologies. I hope that isn't all you took from my post.