Forums → WEPR → The R Word
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Hello.I have seen a few commercials on TV saying not to say the R word.I would personally like to say to all the people that say this word are rude,disruptive,and have no common decency whatsoever.I have a couple of friends that are like this and are the nicest people I know.I just wanted to say that in hopes people would stop discriminating with harsh name calling.If you follow this just comment and agree.
Thanks,Super
- 110 Replies
I think it's all about perspective and the situation.
Now i'm not a huge fan of the word, but i can't honestly say i've never used it.
In modern society i don't think it stands for what it once did.
It's wrong to use when referring to someone less abled IMO, but not when using the slang version of "idiot".
I have called my friends it before, in an obvious non offensive way, which they have taken in good humor. I would never refer to someone i didn't know in that way however, because others may find it hurtful.
In modern society i don't think it stands for what it once did.
It still does. People used it as in insult because it was more acceptable than other insults like idiot or moron.
It's wrong to use when referring to someone less abled IMO, but not when using the slang version of "idiot".
Why? If it's an accurate descriptor, then why not use it for its original purpose? It was supposed to be a 'clean word' in society.
It's kind of ironic that the inclusion of a comma before the word idiot in that sentence means you called him an idiot for not knowing that it is no longer the popular interpretaton of the word.
If anyone has watched the way I post, then they will know that I have a problem with comma placement. It's about being able to see through what would be a literal translation and knowing how to decipher it...knowing what they actually are trying to say. ...just another example of how things shouldn't be taken by the text book definition.
In high school, I memorized and flushed when it came to English. I did what I had to do to get an A... and then quit caring. That fact only makes it worse when you couple it with the fact that I haven't had a decent actual English class since the 11th grade....which was 4, working on 5 years ago. ...now you know
So it's only acceptable if they're being really stupid?
I didn't say it was acceptable. I said that if you have to use those words, then use them sparingly and the time in which to use them is when someone does something extremely stupid. ...of if you can't acknowledge what the word means in today's society and to the people you're flinging it at, b/c your average joe doesn't know the history behind every word (therefore the original meanings have not place in this argument.), then maybe you shouldn't be using it. It doesn't matter what it was, if that's not how it is now.
Calling someone a retard is likening them to the mentally handicapped. kthxbai
(therefore the original meanings have not place in this argument.), then maybe you shouldn't be using it. It doesn't matter what it was, if that's not how it is now.
I'm pretty sure the meaning of the word retard hasn't changed much since the 1890s when it meant mentally handicaped; it's just as much of an insult now as idiot or moron was back then. That definition is still in place.
Calling someone a retard is likening them to the mentally handicapped
So is calling someone an idiot, moron, cretin, or imbecile. People don't seem to have a problem with those words for some reason.
My two cents
Me and my friends always call each other dumb, stupid, retard, idiot etc. when we do something... well, retarded. But there is no way we'd call an actual mentally handicapped person a retard if any of us did we'd probably disown them as friends.
I'll censor the exmples myself as i'm not intending to be offensive.
Why? If it's an accurate descriptor, then why not use it for its original purpose? It was supposed to be a 'clean word' in society.
When you call someone a motherf***er you do not literally imply that they have relations with someones mother: you use it as an insult meaning idiot/annoying person.
Almost always, the word does not actually imply that someone has had sex with his own or another person's mother. Instead it is understood as a swear word, related to the usage of parent word "****."- Wiki: Even the link has a censored word so i don't link.
When this word was first used, it was literal. It was what it said on the tin. Now however it's not.
So yes i do believe the R-word has changed since it's origins.
It has been adapted into modern 'slang' as it were.
Apologies for using some of the above words - it was one of the less offensive examples i could think of.
When you call someone a motherf***er you do not literally imply that they have relations with someones mother: you use it as an insult meaning idiot/annoying person.
That word has turned to slang and the meaning changed, similar to saying "that's gay", but the word retard has kept its origins, at least those created in the late 1800s (meaning one with a mental inhibition), it has just become derogatory due to that definition. Idiot and moron have also kept their origins, but in the late 1800s were considered derogatory and was replaced with retarded to mean the same thing, but not be considered offensive. Society will always use a word for "stupid" or "mentally impaired" until it's considered offensive, then a new word that is not considered offensive will be used until it is considered offensive and the cycle will continue.
When you call someone a motherf***er you do not literally imply that they have relations with someones mother: you use it as an insult meaning idiot/annoying person.
Does it matter? The thing I want to point out is that it is obviously offensive using a certain group of people to express your feelings.
If everyone suddenly started saying, "Wow your such a [insert name here]." Wouldn't you feel a bit bad about yourself?
That word has turned to slang and the meaning changed, similar to saying "that's gay", but the word retard has kept its origins, at least those created in the late 1800s (meaning one with a mental inhibition)
I don't think the meaning of the word really matters it's how you use it. For some reason, we all seem to care about the exact technical definition of the word.
Society may start using the word 'happy' as an insult, and happy means 'feeling or showing pleasure or contentment'.
Just like the word 'gay'. How is 'gay' an insult? Because gay is a word to describe homosexuals. But is there something wrong with homosexuals? No. Or at least, I don't think so.
What I'm getting at, is that it doesn't matter what the meaning of the word is, it's still an insult.
Just like the word 'gay'. How is 'gay' an insult? Because gay is a word to describe homosexuals. But is there something wrong with homosexuals? No. Or at least, I don't think so.
What I'm getting at, is that it doesn't matter what the meaning of the word is, it's still an insult.
Society created a slang meaning of "gay" to mean stupid ("that's gay". It's wrong to misuse a word like that.
The word retard was innocently created to be a politically correct term for someone with mental problems. It, like all the words for "erson with mental problems" that it replaced, became an insult. There will never be a politically correct term for "mentally impaired" that will not be made into an insult eventually.
So is calling someone an idiot, moron, cretin, or imbecile. People don't seem to have a problem with those words for some reason.
The origins of those words may have at some point or other designated someone as mentally handicapped. Nowadays, the connotations surrounding those words do not allude to someone who is mentally handicapped. If you call me or my opinion stupid while going through the hand motion and stuttering it out, then you are calling me a mentally handicapped person... b/c that's how the receiver, me, will perceive it. The power behind hurtful words (unless you're commanding someone to hurt someone else physically) is not in what you the sender know them to mean. Their power lies in how the receiver knows and interprets them. The words dumb, stupid, and idiot (unless explicitly declared (with a VERY high percent certainty) in today's day and time have the connotation that someone is forgetful, ignorant, or dull witted. These words aren't calling forth the state of being of mentally handicapped people as an insult. There are some mentally handicapped people that are very intelligent in their own field. When someone says to another "You're stupid" they are saying they are either ignorant or lacking common sense. They are not saying "here is a group of people, you are like those people." If you think that someone will interpret it to be akin to calling someone retarded, then why don't you use your common sense and not call them by that name if you don't use retard b/c you think it will hurt someone's feelings.
I grew up thinking there was a difference in mental handicap and absence of intelligence. To me retardation =/= stupid. They may go hand in hand at times, but some of those people may or may not be better than me at whatever they like doing or they may know more about whatever they really like than I ever could remember. ...that doesn't sound like a lack of intelligence in the way I'm expressing the word stupid. now... I don't think I'm bad at context clues so I'm gonna throw this next thing out there... when I observe people slinging slang at others and they use idiot and stupid they are saying that there was an absence of thought where there should have been some.
I'd say that those particular slurs are now more of a fleeting state of being than they are a reference to a group of people. The mentally handicapped are a group of people, and an almost permanent mental state... there are some (I think) autism cases where the person's mental state ebbs and flows depending on what they eat... and it can get better or it can get worse... but most of them are permanent or they just continually degenerate.
I'll have to start asking people if they picture the mentally handicapped as the poster child for stupid people... or if they just think of someone who was absent minded and made a mistake on an otherwise simple task when they hear the word stupid... or idiot.
The word retard was innocently created to be a politically correct term for someone with mental problems. It, like all the words for "erson with mental problems" that it replaced, became an insult. There will never be a politically correct term for "mentally impaired" that will not be made into an insult eventually.
...that's because the meanings of words include more than just dictionary definitions. There are things called connotations. They are dynamic and change. I've seen the word "cur" used somewhere recently... and the person asked "why is that not a bad word???? HUUUUUUH????" That's because the general connotation for the word became less significant and the usage of it as a slang word died off to near extinction. It may still have the same dictionary meanings, but people don't even register it as an insult... if you use it as such, you'll be more liable to have people to start spouting off archaic phrases like "have at the, knave!" ( I wonder why people don't use knave anymore...) as insults to you and your archaic'ness.
Here and now... the word retard is a reference to the mentally disabled. the others are not. You can make mention of the fact that the words you are using are alluding to that group of people so other people will understand your intention, but that's not the first thought that's had by the majority of people. We don't go around using those words as labels for the handicapped in our regular every day existence (as non insults)... the retarded are regarded as retarded (or other words that don't include those) in a non insulting way all of the time. I don't see people talking about them on a formalized non insulting fashion using the words idiots and stupid people. Throw all the dictionaries in here you want. What they say in them doesn't really debunk my argument.
The problem is that people change the meaning of words to make them sound insulting, "That's gay", and that should stop. The word retard is not a bad word and should not be banned, society just interprets it as negative because people use it with negative intentions. If we ban the word retard, we should ban the word gay too because people are using it incorrectly. Perhaps instead of banning words, we should stop using the wrong words for insults.
I actually have an experience with this, if I remember right:
I was in class, and some kid said the r word and and then my teacher was like, "Did you just say that" and the kid was all like, "no, no" and then I don't remember what else happened after that, but then the teacher said, "You know, I have a little cousin who actually is like that, and it's a medical condition and he can't live normally" and stuff like that. Then the whole class got silent and it was really awkward. But I'm glad that my teacher had the guts to say that, when other teachers let stuff like that go. That was definitely my favorite teacher that year.
"You know, I have a little cousin who actually is like that, and it's a medical condition and he can't live normally" and stuff like that.
People should use the word as it was originally intended (a serious medical condition) instead of as an insult.
I was in class, and some kid said the r word and and then my teacher was like, "Did you just say that" and the kid was all like, "no, no" and then I don't remember what else happened after that, but then the teacher said, "You know, I have a little cousin who actually is like that, and it's a medical condition and he can't live normally" and stuff like that. Then the whole class got silent and it was really awkward. But I'm glad that my teacher had the guts to say that, when other teachers let stuff like that go. That was definitely my favorite teacher that year.
The teacher intended for the kid to feel guilty then?
That is blatantly obvious - you say something like that and it's bound to make the person feel guilty. That teacher is not a good one.
The R word can be taken offensively, but why people think that people refer to that specific group is beyond me.
What? Because it's the word that represents them? And?
The ONLY reason I can see using words like that as a problem when you don't mean it in its actual term is that people actually pick up on this and begin to create beliefs of the represented people in general.
That is not the person using the word, that is the person interpretting the word. If a teacher heard me say that word and was like "What the hell" I would argue that I didn't mean it that way and shouldn't be construed as such - and that the people around me know me well enough that I don't actually dislike retards for any reason.
Well, they would actually know that I don't judge people I talk with on pretty much anything apart from their point - if they swear, I don't care, if they say gay or retard, I don't care, if they say Call of Duty is a good game - I say they're wrong.
Did I interpret gay or retard literally or as if they're actually using its literal term? Nope. That is rarely ever the case.
That teacher was the insensitive one for poorly making the pupil aware, if you ask me.
- H
Retard: Many find it offensive, since people with mental illness are called retards. I don't care when someone calls me a retard, since I know it isn't true, I come from a long line of genetic geniuses. But if you call someone with an actual mental illness retarded, I would kick their butt. Most people should be okay with being called retarded. But if you insult someone who does have a mental illness, you really, really, must hate yourself, because everyone will hate you.
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