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...."

22 अगस्त 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).

129 टिप्‍पणियां:

Quaestor ने कहा…: Controversial term? Don't the NY Magazine editors understand retarded is a euphemism intended to blunt the realistic edge of idiot?; 22/8/25, 9:20 am
AMDG ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 9:21 am
robother ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 9:23 am
AMDG ने कहा…: Growing up, if something was fantastic it was “wicked pissah”.

If it was really bad it was “retahded”.; 22/8/25, 9:23 am
Mike (MJB Wolf) ने कहा…: It's been tossed about on here recently too.; 22/8/25, 9:25 am
Mike (MJB Wolf) ने कहा…: I blame the Black-Eyed Peas; 22/8/25, 9:26 am
Quaestor ने कहा…: 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?; 22/8/25, 9:27 am
Ice Nine ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 9:27 am
ck ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 9:31 am
Peachy ने कहा…: omg - this subject is so retarded.; 22/8/25, 9:31 am
RideSpaceMountain ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 9:32 am
GRW3 ने कहा…: Can "spastic" be far behind?; 22/8/25, 9:33 am
Quaestor ने कहा…: "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?; 22/8/25, 9:46 am
tim maguire ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 9:47 am
Mike (MJB Wolf) ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 9:55 am
Skeptical Voter ने कहा…: No kids these days simply say that someone "rode the short bus". The comment takes in a lot of "differently challenged people".; 22/8/25, 9:57 am
Skeptical Voter ने कहा…: Oops, forgot the comma in "No, kids . . . " My bad.; 22/8/25, 9:57 am
Mason G ने कहा…: "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.; 22/8/25, 9:59 am
Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:00 am
n.n ने कहा…: retarded(adj.)

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

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

IIRC Key and Peale riff on 'retarded' in one of their sketches.; 22/8/25, 10:01 am
Jim ने कहा…: Mentally Retarded is a legal term in MO, at least it was 25 years ago. Sort of like alien.; 22/8/25, 10:01 am
CJinPA ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:04 am
Lazarus ने कहा…: 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"?; 22/8/25, 10:14 am
n.n ने कहा…: It's not a slur. It's a developmental characterization. #HateLovesAbortion; 22/8/25, 10:14 am
Lem Vibe Bandit ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:17 am
Original Mike ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:18 am
bagoh20 ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:18 am
Marcus Bressler ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:20 am
n.n ने कहा…: The new moron (i.e. exhibiting bad judgment) is pronounced Engoron with the synonym James.; 22/8/25, 10:20 am
n.n ने कहा…: Queer is not a weird imperative but may have a gay/comic utility.; 22/8/25, 10:22 am
JAORE ने कहा…: [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.....; 22/8/25, 10:23 am
Peachy ने कहा…: 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!; 22/8/25, 10:24 am
n.n ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:26 am
Anthony ने कहा…: I miss 'gay' as describing someone who is happy.; 22/8/25, 10:27 am
The Vault Dweller ने कहा…: "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.; 22/8/25, 10:27 am
wild chicken ने कहा…: I used the R word here once and Ann said it was rude. I suspect she still feels the same.; 22/8/25, 10:30 am
Nice ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:31 am
n.n ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:32 am
n.n ने कहा…: Civility bullshit?; 22/8/25, 10:33 am
Saint Croix ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:35 am
Peachy ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:42 am
TeaBagHag ने कहा…: Saying retarded is so gay.; 22/8/25, 10:42 am
Achilles ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:43 am
PM ने कहा…: 'Asshat' in a snit.; 22/8/25, 10:45 am
RCOCEAN II ने कहा…: 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".; 22/8/25, 10:46 am
RCOCEAN II ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:49 am
Achilles ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:49 am
William50 ने कहा…: I almost never use the word idiot without the word blithering in front of it.; 22/8/25, 10:51 am
The Vault Dweller ने कहा…: Appropriate for this topic, Tony Hinchliffe (the comedian from the GOP convention), put out this short video. YouTube wants new words censored.; 22/8/25, 10:51 am
n.n ने कहा…: The future of language is clicking, but no dashes to slur its expression.; 22/8/25, 10:53 am
RideSpaceMountain ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 10:56 am
rhhardin ने कहा…: What made the word fun was the backformation.; 22/8/25, 10:59 am
Peachy ने कहा…: Space - oh that word. yeah - don't say that.; 22/8/25, 10:59 am
Aggie ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 11:00 am
rhhardin ने कहा…: The n word is usually mentioned not used.; 22/8/25, 11:02 am
Anthony ने कहा…: 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."); 22/8/25, 11:10 am
n.n ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 11:11 am
Lazarus ने कहा…: John McWhorter made much of the difference between "niggah" and the other n-word, but both are off-limits for the ofay.; 22/8/25, 11:13 am
n.n ने कहा…: LA could use some fire retardant to mitigate sociopolitical progress.; 22/8/25, 11:13 am
The Vault Dweller ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 11:16 am
Lazarus ने कहा…: "Gypped" is a gateway word. Allow it and people will move on to "j__ down."; 22/8/25, 11:16 am
Yancey Ward ने कहा…: इस टिप्पणी को लेखक द्वारा हटा दिया गया है.; 22/8/25, 11:24 am
Yancey Ward ने कहा…: Damnit, I never stopped using the word "retard". Now I will have to find some other way to be edgy.; 22/8/25, 11:24 am
Lazarus ने कहा…: "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.; 22/8/25, 11:30 am
Peachy ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 11:43 am
tcrosse ने कहा…: I like it when a group will turn a slur into a badge of honor, as deplorables or queers.; 22/8/25, 11:44 am
n.n ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 11:53 am
n.n ने कहा…: Couple, couplet, poly want a cracker... biscuit?; 22/8/25, 11:55 am
n.n ने कहा…: Colored euphemisms are exploited for leverage and to retard conversation as a rite of sociopolitical progress. #NoJudgment #NoLabels #HateLovesAbortion; 22/8/25, 12:03 pm
Aggie ने कहा…: 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?; 22/8/25, 12:05 pm
Smilin' Jack ने कहा…: It had to come back…no one could find a satisfactory substitute.; 22/8/25, 12:08 pm
bagoh20 ने कहा…: "Nice people don't say mean things,"
But good people do, and help those in need of honesty.; 22/8/25, 12:18 pm
Rusty ने कहा…: The late Ralphie May had an excellent standup routine on "retard". I think you can find it on the Utubes.; 22/8/25, 12:25 pm
Original Mike ने कहा…: Well, lookie here. "Unhoused" has landed on the Democrats "do not use, it makes us look nuts" list.

Hope NPR gets the message.; 22/8/25, 12:40 pm
rehajm ने कहा…: If you watch video of pilots landing certain Airbus models the cockpit screams it at you as you touch down. Those planes are meanies…; 22/8/25, 12:40 pm
Leora ने कहा…: 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.; 22/8/25, 12:41 pm
Eva Marie ने कहा…: Use whatever words you want to use but also understand you’re judged by the words you use.; 22/8/25, 12:50 pm
PM ने कहा…: Anyway, the slur, commonly, is RE-tard.; 22/8/25, 12:51 pm
n.n ने कहा…: Insulate to retard thermal dynamics. Social, too.; 22/8/25, 1:01 pm
RideSpaceMountain ने कहा…: Original Mike said, "Well, lookie here. 'Unhoused' has landed on the Democrats 'do not use, it makes us look nuts' list."

I love that "Overton Window" made the list when they're the ones that moved it.; 22/8/25, 1:03 pm
Tina Trent ने कहा…: I'm as committed as they come to defending against the hate speech industry: I actually lost a lot opposing "hate speech" rules and legislation. But I'm particularly sensitive about not making mentally handicapped people feel mocked or shunned, because the reason they are singled out is directly related to their ability to defend themselves using speech. So I'll defend your fucking right to use the term, probably more than most of you would for yourselves, but I'll stick to my position that it is a cruel word.

Every time I hear it, I remember being in third or fourth grade in a class with a mainstreamed, very developmentally disabled girl. She was much older and taller than anyone else, yet she was invisible, frightened, and non-verbal, except for the last few minutes of class when our teacher sang and had us sing along to Rockin' Robin as she danced with the girl, whose name was Robin. And the look on her face when we did this was pure, absolute, hard-won joy. I'm disappointed in Rogan for picking this as a hill to fight on. He seems like a sweet and even sentimental guy.; 22/8/25, 1:04 pm
effinayright ने कहा…: I remember us college kids mocking the Chrysler Cordoba car ads where Retahdo Montalban kept swooning over "soft Corinthian leather".; 22/8/25, 1:04 pm
Yancey Ward ने कहा…: "Well, lookie here. "Unhoused" has landed on the Democrats "do not use, it makes us look nuts" list."

They want to replace it with Free-Range Humans.; 22/8/25, 1:05 pm
Viva Maria ने कहा…: "What's his phone number Mom, maybe we can compare notes?" So said my young adult daughter.

I had just said, "I'm fucking stupid!"

Some problem I had goofing my cake recipe.

Said my other adult daughter, "Mom's not fucking dad, dad's just retarded."

A bit lost, I tried my Lili von Shtupp impression, when Lili has had too much love from above, and too much love from below, then, "aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Not impressive. Uninspired.

Dad says, "I'll be back for my piece (emphasis on "piece") of cake when you girls quit worshipping Satan."

We reflected. None of us managed to work in the word - "cunt!" As in, "you're not a bad person, you're a terrific person! You're my favorite person. But every once in a while, you can be a real cunt."

Dad says, "David Carradine was already dying because Uma already hit him with the fatal exploding heart technique. David is entitled use any word he wants, his last request." We watched the movie together. The daughters loved it.

Words best reserved for people we love.; 22/8/25, 1:06 pm
Smilin' Jack ने कहा…: Obviously no one should use the word to refer to or in the presence of someone who is actually mentally handicapped. If you do that you’re an asshole retard. But among friends it’s sometimes appropriate when one of them starts acting like, well, you know….; 22/8/25, 1:32 pm
SeanF ने कहा…: Saint Croix: “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.

Interestingly enough, when the word "nice" first came into the English language (from Latin via French), it actually meant "foolish" or "stupid".; 22/8/25, 1:33 pm
RCOCEAN II ने कहा…: "But I'm particularly sensitive about not making mentally handicapped people feel mocked or shunned, because the reason they are singled out is directly related to their ability to defend themselves using speech."

I agree. I think some of the problem is that "Retarded" long ago just became another word for "Stupid". So just use that, or one thousand other words we have for it: fool, dummy, etc.
I think Retarded can be given up without much loss.; 22/8/25, 1:40 pm
Aggie ने कहा…: @Tina Trent "..But I'm particularly sensitive about not making mentally handicapped people feel mocked or shunned, because the reason they are singled out is directly related to their ability to defend themselves using speech...."

The Speech Police do a lot more damage than just censoring people and their Free Speech. It's a lot worse than ending up, as we've seen, with a population of otherwise good citizens that self-censor and just move on when they've seen something wrong.

The Speech Police rob citizens of their social contract. When some obnoxious person torments, for example, a mentally-disabled person and bullies or demeans them, the Speech Police would claim this as within their realm of authority. When in fact, all those people that are too timid, too cowed, to react to such hatefulness, really ought to be confronting the bully as good citizens and restoring the Social Contract. The Speech Police steal that power, or try to, weakening the fabric of humanity that binds us. They are robbing society of the tools it needs to keep a strong society flourishing and within the guardrails.; 22/8/25, 2:06 pm
n.n ने कहा…: Semantophobes? Etymologism?; 22/8/25, 2:12 pm
n.n ने कहा…: This particular word is not the issue, but rather its weaponization (e.g. pronouns, fetus, diversity, gender, etc) is representative of a more inclusive, progressive dysfunction that blights our modern culture.; 22/8/25, 2:16 pm
Narr ने कहा…: I understood 'motard' to be a portmanteau: mo(ron) + (re)tard.; 22/8/25, 2:21 pm
Joe Bar ने कहा…: Controversial? The word was never controversial until the Fun Nazis made it so. How do I describe my ignition timing on engine startup?; 22/8/25, 2:41 pm
Rocco ने कहा…: Lazarus said...
“John McWhorter made much of the difference between "niggah" and the other n-word, but both are off-limits for the ofay.”

Wei Wu (@wuwei113) has been given the “nigga pass” by the Hodge Twins on X. To be clear, only the “-a” version.; 22/8/25, 2:43 pm
Joe Bar ने कहा…: “Motard” is actually a category of motorcycle racing, in which modified dirt bikes are raced on a track consisting of dirt and pavement portions, including jumps.; 22/8/25, 2:45 pm
Narr ने कहा…: I'm sure my son and his friends were not talking about dirtbike racing when they used the term motard.; 22/8/25, 2:49 pm
Rocco ने कहा…: RideSpaceMountain said...
"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.”

A couple of decades ago, after a few rounds of drinks some fellow Italian Americans and I decided that the term “paisan” uttered amongst ourselves would be interpreted as a term of endearment, whilst uttered by someone who was not a son (or daughter) of Italy would be considered a grievous slur.

Going by last name would not be a help, as 2/3rds of us had German origin surnames anyway. Plus one Irish surname, which goes against the stereotype of an Italian+Irish couple always being an Italian guy and an Irish girl.; 22/8/25, 2:58 pm
n.n ने कहा…: Critical Semantic Theory; 22/8/25, 3:02 pm
n.n ने कहा…: A fag is a bundle of sticks.; 22/8/25, 3:03 pm
Rocco ने कहा…: Joe Bar said...
“Controversial? The word was never controversial until the Fun Nazis made it so. How do I describe my ignition timing on engine startup?”

“Liberalized”; 22/8/25, 3:03 pm
n.n ने कहा…: Gay is a light and pleasant mood.; 22/8/25, 3:04 pm
n.n ने कहा…: Lesbos is a Mediterranean island.; 22/8/25, 3:05 pm
Maynard ने कहा…: I think we should be very careful about using words like “retard”.

Save for effect when dealing with special lefties.; 22/8/25, 3:10 pm
Rocco ने कहा…: n.n said...
“A fag is a bundle of sticks.”

A faggot is a bundle of sticks. A fag is an individual stick in a faggot. That’s the origin of the British English term fag for a cigarette; it was just one stick from the pack.

Here’s a picture of a Wiltshire thatcher with a faggot that Led Zeppelin made famous: https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/231109083604-02-led-zeppelin-stick-man-album-cover.jpg?c=original; 22/8/25, 3:15 pm
n.n ने कहा…: What other words do we use sparingly, but do not abort in the woke of cultural evolution and urbane erudition?; 22/8/25, 3:22 pm
Oso Negro ने कहा…: Let us reclaim the word “negro”! This was the first loss to political correctness.; 22/8/25, 3:29 pm
Eva Marie ने कहा…: “Lesbos is a Mediterranean island.”
The first male lesbian or rather male Lesbian called into Rush Limbaugh’s show many many years ago. He was from Lesbos and was a fan of the show.; 22/8/25, 3:36 pm
n.n ने कहा…: negro

black, dark, raven, gloomy, blacking, pitchy

Negra is the feminine [gender].; 22/8/25, 3:41 pm
Tina Trent ने कहा…: Aggie, the first time I publicly testified against speech police behavior was in 1999 or 2000, and I did it in a major city daily and for doing so lost any hope of a paying career in academia or politics and was cancelled that day from the public square where I made half of my paltry living for some years. I was preciently aware of the power of the speech police. They called me in the early hours of the morning when my op-ed ran to tell me what was going to happen to me, and boy, it did.

But that little op-ed was distributed all over the state capital that day, and I won against a huge array of very wealthy and powerful people. Some of that was dumb luck, but Georgia went without a hate crime law for two decades in large part because I exposed the lies and real intentions of the hate crimes industry -- and handed the GOP the ammunition to alter the bill enough to have it be declared too vague to enforce in the courts. I was even put on some shady federal watch-list as a "hate person."

I would still do it again. But I think one great consequence of Trump's re-election is that we can now have the discussions we should have been having in 2000 without being disappeared, and we can even distinguish between personal standards and sincere civility versus the speech police's lies and power. Trump's crudeness has ironically moved the Overton Window to a more free place where we can be honestly protective and civil outside consequences. But you're absolutely right: it could all disappear very quickly. We need to keep working. Look at Britain, Canada, France, etc. I needed allies then but had none: now I do and would like to count your articulate vigilance as one. To paraphrase Southern preacher voice Hillary Clinton, 'I'm taired, taired to keep fighting.'; 22/8/25, 3:44 pm
n.n ने कहा…: Lesbians occupy a beautiful Isle in blue waters. And Rush fans? How transatlantic is that!?; 22/8/25, 3:45 pm
Kevin ने कहा…: Doug Billings: Either way, you gotta be super smart to count cards, buddy, okay?

Alan Garner: Oh, really?

Doug Billings: It's not easy.

Alan Garner: Okay, well, maybe we should tell that to Rain Man, because he practically bankrupt a casino, and he was a retard.

Stu Price: What?

Alan Garner: He was a retard.

Doug Billings: [pronounces properly] *RE*tard.; 22/8/25, 4:16 pm
Steve Austin Showed Up For Work. ने कहा…: My son is intellectually disabled according to the paperwork we file periodically to maintain eligibility for benefits. If the term were "retarded" it would change nothing. No one has ever, in 20 years, insulted him about his intelligence in my presence (an important caveat.) I don't think Joe Rogan would, either. Banning words isn't going to raise my son's IQ, and it's obvious that the use of the word "retarded" as an insult has nothing to do with my son. Neither does "moron," or "imbecile" or "idiot." If you want better treatment for the brain damaged or congenitally disabled, banning words isn't the way to do it.

Make of this what you will.; 22/8/25, 4:24 pm
n.n ने कहा…: If you want better treatment for the brain damaged or congenitally disabled, banning words isn't the way to do it.

Yes, no color judgments, no class bigotry is a lesson most people take to heart and put into practice. The use of "retard", in this context "speech", is a metaphor for freedom and, consequently, responsibility. Self-moderation is a property of maturity exercised with awareness.; 22/8/25, 5:10 pm
KellyM ने कहा…: 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".”

When I was in elementary school, my rural town had two full-sized school buses and also a smaller mini-bus, which served a tiny handful of kids (including me) who lived in a particularly remote part of town. Using a full sized school bus for less than a dozen kids didn’t make any sense. When I mistakenly mentioned this to my SO (before marriage) I was immediately lampooned for riding the short bus. I protested, to no avail. It’s still a family joke after 30 years. However, I am really bad at math, so…..

And most of us Gen Xers knew that “retarded” was never used for mentally/physically challenged people. Duh. That’s just bad manners.; 22/8/25, 5:54 pm
Randomizer ने कहा…: As a retired high school teacher, I have never heard a student refer to a special ed kid that way. A retard is what an AP student calls his friend who messes up the right-hand rule when doing a vector cross product.; 22/8/25, 5:59 pm
Oso Negro ने कहा…: @ Tina Trent - I formed a punk funk band called the Negros in Austin,Texas in 1979. It was fun to hear the KLBJ DJ say our name on the radio when announcing club showbills:); 22/8/25, 7:00 pm
tcrosse ने कहा…: Where I grew up in Jersey it was dangerous to call someone a Guinea or a Wop unless you were one yourself. Although The Untouchables TV show was commonly called Guinea Gunsmoke.; 22/8/25, 8:08 pm
Marcus Bressler ने कहा…: I was in 4th grade when I first heard another student yell "retard!" at the small building where the retarded kids went to school. I did not even know what it meant. When I found out, I thought it was cruel -- having been bullied as a youngster. The only time I heard my dad use the word was when he was working on his 1960 Mercury Comet and he told me he was "going to retard the timing". He never cursed. Not once. Not a prude. He said that using profanity was a sign of ignorance - that people did not know how to use the proper words to express themselves so they resorted to foul language.; 22/8/25, 8:57 pm
Tina Trent ने कहा…: I'm just distinguishing between normal, real civility and lawfare. As I said, I have done more and lost more than anyone I know to actually lobby against speech restrictions, and I did it long before most people even understood the intentional potential consequences of these laws and rules. I'm saying, with extensive experience, that Trump has given us an opportunity to try to dismantle these toxic laws and avoid going down the path of Britain, especially. But that would require actually working to repeal them. And I've never seen anyone else try.; 23/8/25, 4:53 am
Rocco ने कहा…: KellyM said...
“And most of us Gen Xers knew that ‘retarded’ was never used for mentally/physically challenged people. Duh.”

This. In There’s Something About Mary, when Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) talks about how much he likes working with the retards, it’s used as humor signaling how clueless he is about the mentally challenged.; 23/8/25, 7:53 am
Rocco ने कहा…: Tina Trent said...
“I'm just distinguishing between normal, real civility and lawfare… I'm saying, with extensive experience, that Trump has given us an opportunity to try to dismantle these toxic laws and avoid going down the path of Britain, especially. But that would require actually working to repeal them. And I've never seen anyone else try.”

I think there are two key factors here:
1) It took someone with Trump’s intestinal fortitude to drag the Overton Window to the place where we can have the opportunity to discuss these things openly and clearly. The Republicans who were/are the Democrats/Left’s controlled opposition would have just cowered and said “Please don’t say mean things about me”.

2) Timing: If someone had tried to start the process of moving the Window even a half decade earlier, they would have failed because not enough of us to matter had tired of the bullshit yet.; 23/8/25, 8:14 am
Peglegged Picador ने कहा…: It's hard to believe people want to bask in the ableist bullshit of using disability to mock and insult people. To the people saying that the word isn't/hasn't recently been used hurtfully in direct reference to people with disabilities, yes it is/has (and if you disagree on that, you must not know the same disabled people I do). It's also important to note that if you don't have negative associations about what it means to be disabled that you're trying to project on the people you target with that word, then you wouldn't be using that word.; 23/8/25, 9:40 am
Peglegged Picador ने कहा…: Most of us choose not to use the word 'nigger' not because c we're afraid of getting canceled, but because we don't buy into the bullshit stereotypes and backward ass thinking that word is used to convey.; 23/8/25, 9:49 am
Narr ने कहा…: When my son was about 12 we went over to the campus swimming complex one Saturday afternoon and ran into a Special Olympics competition being held at the indoor pool.

Lots of happy people, competitors and their families milling about, and we just smiled and continued through the throng towards the outdoor pool. About halfway there an official came running out of an office and stopped us, to ask if my son--a slow-moving, burly, sun-burned boy--"will be participating?"

It took me a moment to figure out what he meant but I said no, I was faculty and we were going swimming outside. Not participating. For the record, those special kids were much better swimmers than my son, probably.

We still use the phrase "will you be participating?" in situations of mistaken identity or intention.; 23/8/25, 10:16 am
Steve Austin Showed Up For Work. ने कहा…: @peglegged picador

You know what helps disabled people? Federal and state legislation mandating accommodations and benefits. That's how my son has a job and health insurance and got through school on an IEP.

You know what doesn't help? Scolding ordinary people about what words they use.

Normal people calling each other "retarded" doesn't matter. If they stop doing it, it isn't going to help my son or anyone else. If you want to be a jerk to a disabled person, you don't require the word "retarded" to do it.

We live in a democracy. I don't want my son to be a member of yet another group that ordinary people are afraid to talk about and as a result are resentful of them. This does not help getting legislation passed. People vote. Making disability rights a partisan issue (which using loaded left-wing jargon explicitly does) is a bad idea.

Disabled people aren't props. By the nature of intellectual disability, mental retardation, whatever you wish to call it (and the name doesn't change anything), the disabled person can't advocate for themselves. The most dangerous thing for them is the self-appointed advocates that care more about their own importance than accomplishing something that will help disabled people in a way that's truly helpful.

Policing language is a cheap way to feel virtuous, but it's not what disabled people need. They need things that cost money: medical insurance, job coaching, Personal Support Workers, housing, and SSI.

Scolding voters until they resent paying for benefits for disabled people is deeply stupid. That has happened to other supposedly protected groups. I don't want that kind of "help" for my son. He's going to be alive a long time, and I don't want the kind of backlash that's been directed at other social justice movements to be aimed at him.

Mentally disabled people have many virtues, and one is an inability to play language games. I think we should emulate them in this.; 23/8/25, 12:39 pm
Saint Croix ने कहा…: A faggot is a bundle of sticks.

The word's applied to homosexuals because they were burned at the stake.; 23/8/25, 1:40 pm
Narr ने कहा…: Germans call a bassoon "das Fagott."; 23/8/25, 2:35 pm
Peglegged Picador ने कहा…: @Steve Austin's Whatever It Is

I agree with a lot of what you have to say about what people need. What I think you don't understand is that the way people speak reflects the way they think, and it influences the way other people think. People with disabilities didn't change the way our society treats us without beginning to change the way others think and speak about us (and with your understanding of the many things that still need to change, i think you can also understand that we've still got a lot of work to do wrt the way people think and soak about us). If it hurts right wing feelings to be told that using disability to mock and insult people hurts people with disabilities and makes you look trashy, then so be it. A lot of us will be here to fight for all of the things you mentioned, for your son and many others. The foundation of that fight is still (and still will be) that we're people who deserve dignity and respect (and I do believe that telling people that using language which necessarily relies on outdated and negative perceptions of disability is not reflective of that understanding is foundational as well).; 23/8/25, 10:11 pm
Narr ने कहा…: A 'faggot' is a stick; a bundle of faggots is a fascine. I'm surprised that someone (self included) didn't catch that already.; 24/8/25, 9:35 am

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"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...."

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"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...."

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