Althouse: "In April, [Joe] Rogan inspired discourse when he said... 'the word retarded is back' and celebrated its return as 'one of the great culture victories' won by podcasts...."

August 22, 2025

"In April, [Joe] Rogan inspired discourse when he said... 'the word retarded is back' and celebrated its return as 'one of the great culture victories' won by podcasts...."

"... such as his own. Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura shared similar thoughts on their podcast.... 'Everyone says retarded again. It’s in shows; it’s in stand-up,' Segura said. 'The people kind of were like, "No, we want it back. We’re going to say it again."' In the 2024 pilot episode of the FX sitcom English Teacher, a pair of dismayed high-school teachers bond over their shared observation that the kids are 'saying the R-word again' and no longer 'into being woke.' Meanwhile, the new Naked Gun movie features a villain named Richard Cane, who owns a private club where one of the perks of membership is freedom to say the word retarded without backlash.... It’s a nostalgic throwback for generations who remember a time when it was ubiquitous, conveys a hint of danger to generations who have only known it as a slur, and slots satisfyingly into punch lines because of its jagged consonants...."

Writes Hershal Pandya, in "Comedy’s Safest Slur/Left, right, center — everyone is using it. How stand-up has all but killed a controversial term’s taboo" NY Magazine).

80 comments:

Quaestor said...: Controversial term? Don't the NY Magazine editors understand retarded is a euphemism intended to blunt the realistic edge of idiot?; 8/22/25, 9:20 AM
AMDG said...: Anything that pushes back against Wokism is good.

When it comes to comedy my view is that if it elicits a laugh then it is good.

Woke comedy’s biggest crime is that it just isn’t funny.; 8/22/25, 9:21 AM
robother said...: I hate it when Joe Rogan and other comedians try to take the credit, when it is perfectly clear that Joe Biden's Presidency restored the term to everyday use. There really was no other term that fit.; 8/22/25, 9:23 AM
AMDG said...: Growing up, if something was fantastic it was “wicked pissah”.

If it was really bad it was “retahded”.; 8/22/25, 9:23 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: It's been tossed about on here recently too.; 8/22/25, 9:25 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I blame the Black-Eyed Peas; 8/22/25, 9:26 AM
Quaestor said...: I never stopped using the retarded, so I never paid attention to the the even more retarded euphemism the usual suspects demanded I adopt. So what was it? Could it have possibly have been more contradictory than the use of savant to mean its exact opposite?; 8/22/25, 9:27 AM
Ice Nine said...: The shunning of that word was always stupid. You don't call retarded people retards. That's bad taste. You call your friends retards when they're acting retarded.

Now, if we could just get people to similarly stop using the childish term "the N-word" when discussing the word "...well, the N-word," we could celebrate the final vanquishing of dumb wokeness.; 8/22/25, 9:27 AM
ck said...: I am not at all unsympathetic to the idea that language policing reached excessive levels in certain areas. I also have a 58-year-old sister-in-law with developmental disabilities who grew up in a time when the term retarded was used frequently, and with abandon and cruelty. She knows exactly what that term means when people use it and it wounds her. Simple decency shouldn't be so much to ask for.; 8/22/25, 9:31 AM
Peachy said...: omg - this subject is so retarded.; 8/22/25, 9:31 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: I have never understood the controversy. The adj/noun is a conjugation of the verb: to delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment.; 8/22/25, 9:32 AM
GRW3 said...: Can "spastic" be far behind?; 8/22/25, 9:33 AM
Quaestor said...: "I also have a 58-year-old sister-in-law with developmental disabilities..."

Isn't it abundantly clear by now that euphemisms rapidly acquire the unfortunate impact of the words they are coined to soften?; 8/22/25, 9:46 AM
tim maguire said...: Ice Nine said...The shunning of that word was always stupid. You don't call retarded people retards. That's bad taste. You call your friends retards when they're acting retarded.

Exactly. "Retarded" hasn't been used to describe the developmentally disabled in generations. It is used to describe normal people saying or doing something stupid.; 8/22/25, 9:47 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I've seen it several times on X today too. My hunch is a big part is pushback against the word police. People are just tired of being told that so much is off-limits because someone somewhere might be offended. We can't stop freaks from taking offense so we might as well use easily understood jargon.; 8/22/25, 9:55 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: No kids these days simply say that someone "rode the short bus". The comment takes in a lot of "differently challenged people".; 8/22/25, 9:57 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Oops, forgot the comma in "No, kids . . . " My bad.; 8/22/25, 9:57 AM
Mason G said...: "Isn't it abundantly clear by now that euphemisms rapidly acquire the unfortunate impact of the words they are coined to soften?"

And when you think about it, how could it be otherwise? If people are shamed in order to stop them from saying "A", they're going to start saying "B" when they mean "A". And then, the people insistent on stopping the use of "A" will eventually get around to "B".

See: Words used to describe blacks in the US over the years.; 8/22/25, 9:59 AM
Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...: Standup comic here. Sorry, but "r" and "d" are not in any way "jagged consonants." It's got three syllables, it's got a "t," so it's got some utility.; 8/22/25, 10:00 AM
n.n said...: retarded(adj.)

1550s, "delayed," past-participle adjective from retard (v.).

Semantic progression is a dysfunctional confession.; 8/22/25, 10:00 AM
Narr said...: My son and his crowd used to use "motard/motarded".

IIRC Key and Peale riff on 'retarded' in one of their sketches.; 8/22/25, 10:01 AM
Jim said...: Mentally Retarded is a legal term in MO, at least it was 25 years ago. Sort of like alien.; 8/22/25, 10:01 AM
CJinPA said...: Wasn't the whole problem using to describe humans, not ideas or behavior?

The Simpsons once had Homer use the word "queer" in the traditional manner, to describe something out of the ordinary. My wife and I use it that way all he time.; 8/22/25, 10:04 AM
Lazarus said...: Terms for the developmentally disabled cycle along like a wheel -- from euphemism, to descriptive label, to insult. "Retarded" was one of the later ones, peaking around 1980, so it retained the clinical association along with the insulting one. Perhaps with younger generations it's become as free of association with seriously disabled people as "idiot" or "moron" have become.

What makes "retarded" different from "idiot" or "imbecile" or "moron" is that it's had a long history of not referring either to stupid people or the developmentally handicapped. So "retarded" has moved in a great cycle of meaning of its own since the 18th century. Johnson, Pope, and Dryden all knew "retard" as a verb meaning "to delay" or "to hinder." The clinical usage only goes back to roughly around 1900.

Is it strange that you can't say "handicapped" without saying "hand" and "handy"?; 8/22/25, 10:14 AM
n.n said...: It's not a slur. It's a developmental characterization. #HateLovesAbortion; 8/22/25, 10:14 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: re·tard
[retard]
verb
retarded (past tense) · retarded (past participle)
delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment: "our progress was retarded by unforeseen difficulties"

Origin
late 15th century: from French retarder, from Latin retardare, from re- ‘back’ + tardus ‘slow’.

Could it be said that "bring it back" is itself "retarded"? If bring it back is not instantaneous. It's going to take time for people to get the word, that the word is back.; 8/22/25, 10:17 AM
Original Mike said...: Everything needs a name.
I'm still chuckling over NPR's "unhoused". Though the implication is not lost on me; "unhoused" implies someone, other than the person in question, is responsible for the housing.; 8/22/25, 10:18 AM
bagoh20 said...: When it's taboo to use a common scientific term for a mental deficiency, it tells you that the mentally deficient must be running things, which is retarded.; 8/22/25, 10:18 AM
Marcus Bressler said...: Imbecile. Moron. Idiot. Fine words that were "abolished". My dad came into my fifth grade class in the early sixties to do a presentation on computers and he described the computer as "a moron" that would be useless without human input. I was shocked at his usage of that word. Turned out he was correct. IBM people also used the term "fast idiot" when describing a computer. I do use the insult "short bus" to describe libs who don't put forth intelligent arguments to support their POV, but are "Orange Man Bad" people. I have a classmate who has a retarded daughter, who I have spent time with and talked with. Out of respect for him, I wouldn't use that word as he has objected to other friends using it as a synonym for "stupid". Even though he referred to me as a Nazi to other friends, I am above that level.; 8/22/25, 10:20 AM
n.n said...: The new moron (i.e. exhibiting bad judgment) is pronounced Engoron with the synonym James.; 8/22/25, 10:20 AM
n.n said...: Queer is not a weird imperative but may have a gay/comic utility.; 8/22/25, 10:22 AM
JAORE said...: [Using] retarded is stupid.
Not sure why using the term "N-word" is out of line. After all very few people know what you really mean.....; 8/22/25, 10:23 AM
Peachy said...: It's never a good idea or proud moment to mock someone who is developmentally disabled.

That said - Speech Crimes from Woke-retards -> just say NO!; 8/22/25, 10:24 AM
n.n said...: The semantic progressive Diversity refers to color judgment, class bigotry. DEIsm is an umbrella practice for racism, sexism, ageism, and other class-disordered ideologies. #HateLovesAbortion

That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one.; 8/22/25, 10:26 AM
Anthony said...: I miss 'gay' as describing someone who is happy.; 8/22/25, 10:27 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: "retarded is a euphemism intended to blunt the realistic edge of idiot"

I think it is more accurate to say was for that statement. I agree that was the original intent of using the term retarded, but for the typical person today I think most would say that calling someone a retard is meaner and harsher than calling someone an idiot.; 8/22/25, 10:27 AM
wild chicken said...: I used the R word here once and Ann said it was rude. I suspect she still feels the same.; 8/22/25, 10:30 AM
Nice said...: I hope the word gypped comes back in vogue, along with Gypsies. I don't know why the word Oriental is considered a slur. Orientals and Gypsies.; 8/22/25, 10:31 AM
n.n said...: Gender refers to sex-correlated attributes (e.g. sexual orientation): masculine, feminine. Trans is a prefix that indicates a state or process of divergence. Simulants refers to a person who simulates attributes of the opposite sex.

Liberalism is a philosophy of divergence.
Progressivism is a philosophy of monotonic motion.
Conservativism is a philosophy of moderation.

Euphemisms are worth a dime a dozen.; 8/22/25, 10:32 AM
n.n said...: Civility bullshit?; 8/22/25, 10:33 AM
Saint Croix said...: Nice people never say "retard."

What the nice people do, they pay a doctor to stab or poison any child with Down's, in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Euphemisms are dangerous because they are a dishonest attempt to avoid dealing with reality. Witness how the people who are pro--abortion refuse to say the word "abortion," preferring "choice" or "health care" to hide what they are talking about.; 8/22/25, 10:35 AM
Peachy said...: I miss "fags."
My best friend in college was a gay man. We kept each other sane with laughter. We were always joking around.
Anyway- he had names for all the various homosexual men in his orbit. "that guy is a fag" - he would say.
It was never mean or nasty - it was always light and funny.
We would always bust out laughing because I was not allowed to say such things.; 8/22/25, 10:42 AM
TeaBagHag said...: Saying retarded is so gay.; 8/22/25, 10:42 AM
Achilles said...: wild chicken said...
I used the R word here once and Ann said it was rude. I suspect she still feels the same.

Calling someone a retard is rude.

You may be out of line and right at the same time.

The main issue this highlights is the emotionalization of debate. You could say feminization if you want to attribute emotion to women but I think that is wrong. Men use emotion in communication as well they are just bad at it.

Dumbing down debates with emotion leading to censorship led to poor results.

The pendulum is going to swing back and people are trending towards supporting blunt honesty and authenticity.

It’s time to start calling retarded people retards again. It doesn’t have to be malicious or said with ill intent. It is descriptive truth. Some of the best and kindest people I’ve met are mentally retarded. In fact they tend to be the kindest and nicest people I know.

The problem is the mean and vicious retards who get mad and want to censor and attack people who oppose their evil and dishonest ideas. They are the ones that weaponize accurate descriptive language.; 8/22/25, 10:43 AM
PM said...: 'Asshat' in a snit.; 8/22/25, 10:45 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Hey Rogan: Now, do Spic, Kike, and the N-word. The 21st Centuries "Dirty words".

Personally, I can do without any of those, and that includes "retard".; 8/22/25, 10:46 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: People are such fakes when it comes to free speech. I mean jesus christ, what a bunch of goddamn motherfuckers getting upset at shit like Kike or Cunt - isn't it all the same? Its just words.; 8/22/25, 10:49 AM
Achilles said...: Saint Croix said...
Nice people never say "retard."

What the nice people do, they pay a doctor to stab or poison any child with Down's, in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Euphemisms are dangerous because they are a dishonest attempt to avoid dealing with reality. Witness how the people who are pro--abortion refuse to say the word "abortion," preferring "choice" or "health care" to hide what they are talking about.

I read the first five words and thought I was going to be ripping this post.

Instead I will say well said.

“Nice” is almost always a euphemism for emotional manipulation and social programming.

“Nice” is going to soon be widely accepted as a really bad way to organize a social contract again and recognized as a concept used by evil people to accomplish evil deeds in most situations.; 8/22/25, 10:49 AM
William50 said...: I almost never use the word idiot without the word blithering in front of it.; 8/22/25, 10:51 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: Appropriate for this topic, Tony Hinchliffe (the comedian from the GOP convention), put out this short video. YouTube wants new words censored.; 8/22/25, 10:51 AM
n.n said...: The future of language is clicking, but no dashes to slur its expression.; 8/22/25, 10:53 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Peachy said, "I miss 'fags.'"

"Fags" is a lot like another word that shall remain nameless that is used in every other sentence by the descripted amongst themselves, but forbidden to everyone else.; 8/22/25, 10:56 AM
Achilles said...: JAORE said...
[Using] retarded is stupid.
Not sure why using the term "N-word" is out of line. After all very few people know what you really mean.....

Chris Rock was the comedian I believe who stumbled into this issue. He had a set of material that separated Black people from N- words.

The Democrat Party controls black people by keeping them monolithic and ignorant of cultural influences on their prosperity. They cannot have black people develop any sort of pride in achievement or sense of responsibility. That is the path to freedom.

Policing the N-word is one of the most malicious and historically disgusting ways that the political class enforces cultural homogeneity on black communities and keeps them trapped in bad schools, crime ridden neighborhoods, and constant conflict with crime.; 8/22/25, 10:57 AM
rhhardin said...: What made the word fun was the backformation.; 8/22/25, 10:59 AM
Peachy said...: Space - oh that word. yeah - don't say that.; 8/22/25, 10:59 AM
Aggie said...: Nice people don't say mean things, but most of that is because they have a choice, and choose not to. Forbidden speech is a shortcut for the powerful to try to forbid thinking, because people that think are people that challenge authority, sometimes awkwardly, and often, successfully.; 8/22/25, 11:00 AM
rhhardin said...: The n word is usually mentioned not used.; 8/22/25, 11:02 AM
Anthony said...: My recollection is that retard/retarded fell out of favor in maybe the '80s or early '90s and was replaced with the more clinical description of certain conditions (e.g., Down's).. I never heard it (or used it) much until maybe 2010ish when I starting seeing it on various blogs referring to mostly lefties. Now I use it on few people, but often refer to inanimate objects that are poorly designed as 'retarded'. ("This interface is utterly retarded."); 8/22/25, 11:10 AM
n.n said...: Fetus is a technical term-of-art used by scientists, and abortionists, and liberals to socially distance themselves from their victims. Fetus is a feature of progressive religions that should be banned.

A Rainbow banner or rhetoric in human context is albinophobic should be banned.; 8/22/25, 11:11 AM
Lazarus said...: John McWhorter made much of the difference between "niggah" and the other n-word, but both are off-limits for the ofay.; 8/22/25, 11:13 AM
n.n said...: LA could use some fire retardant to mitigate sociopolitical progress.; 8/22/25, 11:13 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: I think the problem is the shrinking of the non-mixed company space. There are plenty of words that are bad and should still be classified as bad and generally inappropriate to use in many situations. We don't need to try to make these words acceptable in everyday use, but there should be times and spaces where it is fine to use that language and folks who try to police the language in that instance are the ones who are committing the social infraction. If it is just the guys, or at the bar or comedy club, or even at the holiday party after a few eggnogs some language should be acceptable that isn't acceptable at the office, or at Sunday brunch with other couples. I think some of this shrinking of non--mixed-company space stems from increasing use of social media. For some, parts of social media feel like a chat with their friends and semi-private, for others it feels like a semi-public space and these two separate feelings can exist for the same part of social media.; 8/22/25, 11:16 AM
Lazarus said...: "Gypped" is a gateway word. Allow it and people will move on to "j__ down."; 8/22/25, 11:16 AM
Yancey Ward said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/22/25, 11:24 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Damnit, I never stopped using the word "retard". Now I will have to find some other way to be edgy.; 8/22/25, 11:24 AM
Lazarus said...: "Motard" has two main slang meanings: it's a French term for motorcyclist and a US Marine Corps slang term describing an overly motivated and sometimes obnoxious person.

I guess either one describes an idiot. I wonder if the "mo" may not be from the forbidden world "homo" though.

"Fag" and "faggot" seem to be of different levels of obnoxiousness. The hard "t" at the end can make a difference.; 8/22/25, 11:30 AM
Peachy said...: LOL -this is hilarious. The sinking & insane Democrats are trying to cancel words and phrases inside of their strange little world, As they navigate their own madness. - you can read here. D's still do not get it. I would suggest they ease up on the over-the-top non-stop Trump-Hate.... Eating what is left of their mentally ill brains.; 8/22/25, 11:43 AM
tcrosse said...: I like it when a group will turn a slur into a badge of honor, as deplorables or queers.; 8/22/25, 11:44 AM
n.n said...: Cissexuals. Incels. NERF? TURF? Toxic.

Woman, female, and feminine. Sex and gender. Maybe, baby.

Down syndrome individuals can be aborted... retarded... Planned as a euphemism of social progress and human rites.; 8/22/25, 11:53 AM
n.n said...: Couple, couplet, poly want a cracker... biscuit?; 8/22/25, 11:55 AM
n.n said...: Colored euphemisms are exploited for leverage and to retard conversation as a rite of sociopolitical progress. #NoJudgment #NoLabels #HateLovesAbortion; 8/22/25, 12:03 PM
Aggie said...: The great thing about a shifting language, is that sometimes a word gets a new life, all its own. Isn't it somehow satisfying to know that one day, 'Streisand' will take on a meaning about arrogant hubris and unintended consequences that has no trace of being about Barbara Streisand?; 8/22/25, 12:05 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: It had to come back…no one could find a satisfactory substitute.; 8/22/25, 12:08 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Nice people don't say mean things,"
But good people do, and help those in need of honesty.; 8/22/25, 12:18 PM
Rusty said...: The late Ralphie May had an excellent standup routine on "retard". I think you can find it on the Utubes.; 8/22/25, 12:25 PM
Original Mike said...: Well, lookie here. "Unhoused" has landed on the Democrats "do not use, it makes us look nuts" list.

Hope NPR gets the message.; 8/22/25, 12:40 PM
rehajm said...: If you watch video of pilots landing certain Airbus models the cockpit screams it at you as you touch down. Those planes are meanies…; 8/22/25, 12:40 PM
Leora said...: Retarded was the social worker word replacing terms like moron or idiot. It implied the person was just slow and could eventually catch up with assistance.; 8/22/25, 12:41 PM
Eva Marie said...: Use whatever words you want to use but also understand you’re judged by the words you use.; 8/22/25, 12:50 PM
PM said...: Anyway, the slur, commonly, is RE-tard.; 8/22/25, 12:51 PM