Wikepedia states
“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 mental disabilities. Instead, people use the term when teasing their friends or as a general insult.”
Is it only a slur if directed at soneone with mental disabilities? Is it a slur if durected at onself?
Whats lemmies take on this?
They changed the underlying medical term, ‘mental retardation’ to ‘developmentally disabled’ in a form of lingual whack-a-mole since the old term was being used as an insult.
Once it lost its meaning as a short form of the medical term, it became a slur, much like we don’t call black people the n-word anymore.
Keeping in mind the DSM used the word retarded until DSM V came out in 2013.
Another history fact around the DSM is that homosexuality was a mental disability but that was removed way back in 1974 and society didn’t shift as quickly with it as it has now.
The issue with retard is that it is describing an actual medical condition and swapping the word isn’t going to change that.
But a black man still has the right to use the N word, and they do. Why can’t I use the word retarded? I’m fucking retarded. Why can’t I say retarded?