Skip Navigation
Remote View
Asklemmy @lemmy.ml
brbposting @sh.itjust.works

"Retard" & "bitch" in 2024: any words you avoid?

Y’all use these words, or averse to them? Believe there’s any downsides to using them in the fediverse?

As irreverent as I like to be, somebody or something has managed to train me to avoid these two words.

For retard, it seemed common twenty years ago, then it seemed people took offense (outside of WallStreetBets), now I’ll see it occasionally highly upvoted here.

btw, I’m pretty sure “don’t be a jerk” fits my m.o. better than “snowflake” but I’m always willing to update my perspective :)

Privileged US male perspective

2 comments

  • Here's my retard theory.

    Retarded was originally a word for people with a fairly wide range of learning disabilities, including folks with Downs.

    People in general seem to enjoy insulting each other. With intellectual capacity being a popular target.

    Once retard became an insult, it no longer got used for people with learning disabilities.

    Look at what are now synonyms for retard: idiot, imbecile, moron, etc. Guess how those words got started.

    It doesn't matter what term you use for people with some degree of learning disability, it will end up being taken over as slang insult. Guaranteed.

    At this point, retard has nothing to do with mental retardation as it was originally used. It's just a dis saying that the person you're using it on is fucking stupid.

    Mentally challenged has become a slang insult. Learning disabled has. It is inevitable.

    Happens with terms used for psychological/psychiatric disorders too. Now, you aren't fucking nuts, you're mentally ill.

    It's this whole thing.

    Bitch has been around the block so many times that it might as well be on par with calling someone a jerk, at most. It's lost almost all of its gender specific application in favor of either a reclaimed word of solidarity, or a generic term for perceived weakness.

    And so it goes.