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Comment by blamazon | Hacker News Reader

Doesn't colloqializing it defang the term? Why should the word be gatekept within the harsh domain it came from rather than allowed to transcend alongside culture? Earnest questions, I don't think about this stuff much.

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I agree. I use the word “retard” (as in ‘Tony Abbott was the retard we had to have’) from time to time for similar reasons.

As the parent of a "severely retarded" (quoted from the first IEP report in 2009) child, I say who the hell cares if you use that word. I have to admit I find it kind of funny and use it all the time.

Commence downvoting, retards.

EDIT: Actually got upvotes! My heart sings

I'm autistic, and often call myself retarded intentionally. :P

We're all a little retarded.

So so true!

I used to make my colleage laugh because after a while of frustration I would often mumble or louder to myself "oh you fucking retard"

I downvoted because you said "as a parent". I completely disagree with the idea being the parent of a disabled child gives you special license to say words like that. You're not disabled just because your kid is.

My goal is to disociate the word "retard" with disability in its entirety.

It’s a good goal

I like and upvoted your comment! I think you’re absolutely right. It is a mild satire on the “my lived experience“ fad. Obviously being the parent of a severely retarded child gives me no special moral power. I will continue making crude jokes like this because even though I’m in my 60s apparently my sense of humor is still 15. That and I don’t like to give any kind of derogatory language special power of of its own.

I can’t wait till you hear my exceptionally insensitive jokes about white people, especially fat bald white men like me. Because, you know, it’s my lived experience…

Seriously, though, thank you for explaining your downvote.

I hate it that words become unacceptable just over time and we all have to adapt our language.

What could be more reasonable than describing someone as retarded? The word means "delayed or held back in terms of progress or development". No one would argue with that as a non-derogatory and accurate label, so why has the word fallen from grace?

Yeah that is a good point I guess. I see this spawned a talk on the word "retarded" as well. Words probably should be allowed to grow and change over time (we see it all the time).

It’s also quite dated slang. Pimp My Ride is decades old now.

It was dated back then. "Pimping" used like that goes back to the 70s. I was there.

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