this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2025
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The 90s: I used to use it back in the day, until one time I volunteered for a handicapped kids event, and saw how this one kid with Downs got really upset at someone calling him "the 'R' word" (I had never heard it put that way, or even considered it as truly harmful).
Anyway, I wiped it from my vocabulary after that. I still consider it a slur, unlike idiot, which is more generic, and not used as a specific slur against intellectually disabled folks.
Good on you for making that change, and having empathy for others.
Idiot has the same entomology as retard though, does it not? As does stupid? They all start as medical diagnoses and then assholes turn them to slurs and then the medical field refines and renames and things start to repeat.
We had special education class, Special Ed, for kids struggling in certain ways, so if course the shitty kids would call kids "sp-ed" because of course they would.
I'm not sure when the line gets crossed or if we should have gone back or what, but retard, to me, has a very particular connotation that is useful for describing certain people's actions. I don't do it any more because I'd rather live in a peaceful society that fosters respect, but it is one of those things I "don't get"
The euphemism treadmill.
(I think the conversation here is more about etymology than entomology)
“Sped” is often how teachers refer to special education now too. I was a “sped teacher” for a bit. Referring to a child as “sped” would be gross and dehumanizing, but I think referring to a “sped class” isn’t considered pejorative.
It’s weird how worked up people get about “political correctness.” If you call someone ‘r-tarded’ you’re doing it to upset them, and you are also communicating that the status of having an intellectual disability is so degrading to be considered an insult. I’ve worked with lots of intellectually disabled adults and children - I don’t know that I would want to compare those people I loved and cared for to someone that I would want to insult.
fwiw Sped was used as an insult when I was in school a couple decades ago
Yeah, clearly many people in this thread have never spent any time around people with disabilities, it doesn't take long to feel an innate disgust for the word and anyone who uses it, short of technical/scientific usages.
You've all been able to say it this whole time, just a lot of people agreed it makes you a shithead. That hasn't changed, and it's familiar territory for Rogan, so this is no surprise.