Talk:Retard (pejorative)

Meaning

Today, the term retard refers to idiots, not mentally disabled people. That's what the retarded article fails to understand. Zakawer (talk) 08:00, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

Being replaced by a new term

This may sound incredibly offensive, but as of late it is becoming more common for some reason for people to replace the word "retarded" with "autistic" in context to idiocy.

• http://thedailyorbit.com/is-autistic-the-new-retarded/
• http://www.chicagonow.com/life-disabled-sibling/2013/04/is-autism-the-new-term-for-mentally-handicapped/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/41n9sh/why_is_autism_becoming_the_new_retarded/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/40z2yc/why_is_people_calling_other_people_autism_kids/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/4iev4p/since_when_did_autist_and_autistic_become_common/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/2g5j08/what_is_with_4chan_resorting_to_calling_everyone/

I want to make a new section or paragraph about this trend, but I'm afraid someone will get deeply offended and ban me. What do? --99.245.28.74 (talk) 17:34, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

Time Frames for Origin and Use

I have been looking through the sources cited in the article and can find no source that dates the use of "retard" as a noun as any earlier than 1668 despite the fact that both this article and the one on Intellectual Disability date it at 1426. I will have to evaluate that other article and see if there is a reference that supports this date. Merriam Webster, which is the first citation in this article, is the source for the 1668 date. I found another source, Online Etymology Dictionary (via Dictionary.com), which mentions an earlier existence for the verb form, 15th century or 13th century, but goes on to state that the first record of the noun form is 1788. This argues that we either need a source for the 1426 date or to reference the origin as uncertain with a couple of dueling dates, neither of which is 1426.

The reference that describes the switch to mental retardation as a term for what we now call intellectually disabled is cited from an article where this is a side issue, and is further cited there from another article. It might be wise to find that source as a more valid one than an article whose prime focus is the effect the use of the word and derivatives of the word have when used on YouTube. My point is that it isn't an article on how the word's use developed over time, though that is glancingly covered in the article, it's about its current use.

The reasoning listed for the switch from previous terminology to mental retardation is incomplete and implies that it was about choosing new words to refer to intellectually disabled people, which is not strictly true. This section needs to be cleaned up a bit.

The article states baldly. "Retard was not used to refer to mentally disabled people until 1985." There is no source cited and none of the sources in the list support it. This statement is what spurred my research into this article's validity. I know for absolute fact from my own direct experience that it was used derogatorily as early as 1976 and anecdotally that it was used as early as 1974. This is not supportable by evidence, it's what I encountered in school, but it made me start looking. From Online Etymology Dictionary (via Dictionary.com), I learned that its use as a derogatory term for the intellectually disabled dates to 1970. It offers variants on the term such as "retardate (1956)" and "retardee (1971)". The Dictionary of Modern Slang (also via Dictionary.com) dates that use to the 1960s+.

Additionally, although this article cites a source that mentions multiple other negative/pejorative uses of the word "retard" or "retarded" that have come into currency in the past 10-15 years, none of them are mentioned in this article. That needs to be expanded.

I came to look at this article because I read something else that told me that the use of the word "retard" to refer to people with intellectual disabilities was common and without negative implication in the early 1900s. I find this lacking in credibility since the phrase "mentally retarded" does not appear, from my own knowledge and the sources cited here, to have come into use until the 1950s or 60s. I will, however, look into it since this article does not have sufficient reliability for me to go away satisfied with its information. I also agree with the suggestion on the main page that this article might not be neutral in its current format, and that needs to be fixed.

Eideann 1066 (talk) 10:25, 3 August 2017 (UTC)

"The word retard was widely accepted in the late-1900s to refer to people with mental disabilities"

This is a crock of utter bullshit. By the latter half of the 1900's it most certainly was not accepted and was VERY widely known to be an insult. Who researched this? 2601:18C:4301:244:4803:FECD:1B33:D3B (talk) 16:09, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

The referenced article made so such statement and is an unreliable personal opinion/perspective blog. I've removed both the statement and the reference. SentientParadox (talk) 16:23, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

The word "Retard" should be a profanity and reclaimed word

I was wondering if you should put this article in "reclaimed words" and "profanity" category. The word "retard" was used to define as "slow" or "hold back", and it is used to degrade and offend people with intellectual disability. RajhaMaddhavi (talk) 19:14, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

The phrase "reclaimed word" is for words that were previously used to insult, but now the offended group uses that word to proudly refer to themselves. A good example of that would be queer, and far as I know, the mentally disabled population hasn't reclaimed retard in this way. As for profanity, I think we could probably add it to that category, but I'll wait to see if anybody objects to that. Roadguy2 (talk) 23:00, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

No, it should not be a profanity. The first amendment protects people’s right to say that word. Fuck people who are offended by that word; I will use it when I feel like it! I have enough sense not to use the word against people with intellectual disabilities. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1002:B12A:E5E1:F086:B1AA:29AD:1983 (talk) 04:29, 19 May 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 March 2020

This page is not objective and tends to misinform the reader. It should be edited top to bottom to remove bias and negative subtext. The page should not be used to promote the eradication of the word "retard".

The word "retard" is not in itself pejorative and "(pejorative)" should not appear next to it at the top of the page.

A discussion of pejorative uses of the word "retard" should be limited to 1 or 2 paragraphs. DJROCK2020 (talk) 20:14, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

This article is appears to try to be specifically about the modern pejorative word, and it is trying to reflect how modern reliable sources describe the term. Mental retardation is already a redirect to Intellectual disability. You can suggest improvements to this article by making another request, "change X to Y", but we do have to reflect what reliable sources say. Most of the current sources in this article are from advocacy groups, which is not ideal. – Thjarkur (talk) 21:55, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

Affix structure and root

The term for "fully-capable yet self-harming" is non-existent and linguistically-deconstructing the word "retard" by its affixes describes one that is not necessarily already a tard but is often destructive of themselves or others per societal symbiosis. To suggest otherwise mischaracterizes tards as not being self-preserving, describing them to always be retarding themselves or their society.