The word r****d as a verb means to "delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment." Going by that definition, it seems to me that "mentally r****ded" is a fairly accurate description which is probably why it was used in the first place. The original Latin word "r****dare" means "to make slow, delay, keep back, or hinder. We use the Italian version of the word (ritardando) in music to tell the performer to slow down. There word itself isn't inherently offensive and I don't think it's necessarily an inaccurate description either. It's only offensive because people started using it as a pejorative term. When "r****ded" came to describe the handicapped, it replaced "idiot", "moron", and "imbecile" because those words had become derogatory terms. It makes be wonder if and when "intellectually disabled" will be considered a "bad word".
Ya no. You're wrong, but I can pretend for you that you are correct. Remember that time you made a really good post and I was floored by it. Epic. Keep on keepin' on! I do think its humorous how some people will get severely bent out of shape because of one word. What is actually laughable is that people can let a word like that actually effect them, anger them, annoy them. That is really what is funny here. So I'm laughing. Also dback816's idiotic post makes me laugh too.
Oh I'm sorry, is little baby upset that someone doesn't worship Matt & Trey like he does? You're such rebel for letting this little cartoon series tell you what to do. I'm sure your high school buds would be proud. Maybe after you've slain the evil that is political correctness, you can work on differentiating between "effect" and "affect" next.
All smiles for miles. Windows phone decided to correct affect with effect. Go figure. I never said I was a rebel, I'm merely pointing out that what you said was actually what was laughable. I laughed. I think the fact that you would judge a person based upon where they get their moral directions is more of a comment on your deficiencies, not mine. At the end of the day, I guess I'd rather be a baby than a troll I guess... Should we start a thread that calling someone a baby is insulting to babies? I think so. Let's also start a thread about trolls too. All those trolls are getting treated so unfairly.
When did he say South Park was acting as his "moral compass"? Even so, South Park may be satire delivered through the medium of juvenile humor and tired potty jokes, but they often provide some of the best "common sense"-type commentary on social issues. I haven't seen the episode in question, but more likely than not, it probably presents this issue in a clever way... plus poop jokes (sigh). Back on topic... This revolving door of terms is just so exhausting. I teach a "r****ded" girl in a classroom setting at times, and I still don't know what to refer to her as! I suppose the current PC standard is "mentally handicapped," but that term just sounds so comically patronizing--it feels like calling a short guy "vertically challenged"--that I can't bring myself to say it. What I do find offensive is that these terms keep racking up the syllables and getting longer!! Before we know it, we'll have to regurgitate some half-sentence like alternate chromosomal configuration induced cognitive condition something or rather. Please, I beseech thee o sweet gods of political correctness, send us a one syllable word!
I don't think the concept of 'free speech' was designed to give folks free rein to say what they want. Offensive speech is offensive speech. Sometimes being 'politically correct' is just plain common courtesy.
Depends on how you use the word!!!...But its more about where you use it...Celebrities shouldnt get slaughtered for using slang/words that a normal person would say....
Nice to see that you can have an intelligent post outside of the GARM, where you relish telling members, some whom have been fans of the Rockets more years than you have been alive, to go find another team if they disagree with your opinions. Yes, of course the term "r****d" is offensive and needlessly hurtful to those who have a child, a relative, a friend who are either mentally challenged or have a child who is mentally challenged in one form or another, through no fault of their own. I stopped using it many years ago. Looking at the vote here is very depressing and an awful reflection on the collective intelligence of the denizens of D&D. Wake up, people. Some of you style yourselves as progressives, liberals, and simply open-minded. Why don't you act like it and put these hurtful terms in the trash can, where they belong?
So are the terms "moron" "idiot" and "imbecile" - equally as clinical and as disfavored as the now-disfavored "r****ded", for that matter, so are words like "stupid" and "dumb" which we all use. Honestly what's the difference? The word r****ded, like moron, idiot, imbecile, stupid, dumb has or had independent meaning and signficance for hundreds of years before physicans started (and stopped) using it - I really don't think it's like "n-" or whatever because that word really doesn't have any other context at all.
neither does that word!!!.... I hear the youth use this like its nothing....and Im not talking black youth...
Just wondering, when kids start using "mentally challenged" or "challenged" as an insult ("you challenged, dude?"), will one have to invent a new PC word that has not yet been used as an insult?
I don't use it. In college one of my professors would always tell a student to correct themselves if they said "r****ded." I never thought much of it and I didn't really like the class, but that definitely grew on me- I never say it anymore.
Oh my, the incessant whining, it won't stop! Anything else you'd like to make excuses for? But you're right, when someone seriously try to use south park to support....well, anything, I do tend to raise an eyebrow. Try growing up, maybe you'll actually see why and learn something, including what internet trolls really are.
The 22% of people who voted 'Yes' are r****ded. Words aren't intrinsically offensive; it's how they're used by people that makes them offensive. Anybody who is so easily offended needs to get a life.
And how hard is it not to use it on a BBS, if there are those here who find it offensive, perhaps because they have a friend or relative who is afflicted with a mental handicap, or have a child that is afflicted with a disability. Here's the synonyms for the word from Thesaurus.com, and tell me, people, if this is really a word that should be used freely. And remember, there are many people who have children who are subject to this pejorative. Main Entry: r****ded Part of Speech: adjective Definition: limited Synonyms: backward, birdbrained, defective, dim, dim-witted, dopey, dull, dumbbell, dumbo, dumdum, dummy, exceptional, feeble-minded, gorked, half-witted, held back, imbecile, lamebrained, mentally defective, moronic, numbskull, opaque, pinhead, r****do, sappy, simple, simple-minded, slow, slow-witted, stupid, subnormal, touched, underachieving, weak, yo-yo
I haven't used the word "r****ded" since grade school. It sounds rather childish to say somebody is "r****ded".
