tracheaspider

Well, before I got distracted and went off to a page that wanted to give me a virus, forcing me to shut down my browser, I had written something like this:

Not sure why it makes no sense. English is almost infinitely adaptable. Precisely because we love adding to our multitude of ways to call someone foolish, the word "retarded" has taken on a pejorative sense when it used to be fairly innocuous.

I suppose it might seem odd if you're not accustomed to looking at where words come from. We've always "misused" (ie "adapted") words in this way. The same thing happened to the word "moron" a few decades earler (it used to be a technical term). "Fool" itself comes from a word meaning "empty bag" or "bellows." "Cretin" is an adapted form of "Christian."

tracheaspider

Is it inconceivable to you that words, even a few decades ago, had a slightly different meaning than they do today? If you'd done your homework, you'd have found out that Laodaron is correct and the term "mentally retarded" was used in an attempt to classify and understand people whose brain functions were somehow impeded. Perhaps the terms we used then and now are misguided and inexact, but its original use was not derogatory -- it has fallen out of use because the derogatory sense was added later.

Laodaron

And so that everyone can get a visual of what a retard is, Gromann has stepped to the plate.

Gromann

I think you missed my point. Mentally retarded is a term, call it medical/clinical, whatever you like, do describe someone who's mental capability has been "hindered" or "slowed." Calling someone a retard is slang, people started using it as a derogatory term for someone who is mentally retarded, used by people who have no real understanding of their handicap, and can't think of a better way to pick on someone. Basically all you appear to have done is misinterpreted what i said, and then restated it. If that is my fault for unclear typing then i apologize.

and Laod, after reading hundreds of your posts here, i was really hoping for something more along the lines of a grand slam, not a bunt.

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tracheaspider

Which is, um...? Exactly what you did with what Laodaron said? I guess my confusion came from you arguing against what he said which is, in fact, what I said. So if what I said is what you said then what you said is what he said. Clear? :p

Gromann

I think the only reason i posted about "retard" to begin with is because you attached the meaning of "stupid person" to it. I think we've all showed that meaning as being incorrect.

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"SOE is synonymous with clusterfuck." -mmorpg.com

Laodaron

A "mentally retarded" person has as one of the criteria, intelligence two deviations below the norm. Therefore, a stupid person, in general terms, can and will continue to be called a retard.

tracheaspider

How the hell is it incorrect? Or are you merely expressing the typical snobbery of people without any education in linguistics (and generally with sticks up their bums) by trying to claim that any slang is somehow illegitimate? The pejorative meaning, while unfortunate, is not incorrect. It is perhaps more correct if you go by popular usage, which is what inevitably determines the legitimacy of word meanings in the present.

Vainamoinen

A stupid person has the capacity to not be stupid, but conciously or subconciously chooses not to - someone who is "mentally retarded"/"developmentally delayed"/whatever have been physiologically affected. They do, however, continue to learn and adapt throughout their lives if given the proper resources.

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Laodaron

You're missing the point. Its become slang to mean ANYONE of subpar intelligence. It used to mean only those that can't change, whereas now, it means anyone at all who has subpar intelligence, whether intentional or not.