Raise the Hammer

I can sympathize with the author's concern that the word "retarded" is being used to describe the more vulnerable student's at a school, but I disagree with some of the other points brought up.

First, the examples of the usage of the word that the author suggests we read at Urban Dictionary include:

"just act how you want to; dance like you don't know what you're doing"

"adjective used to describe something or someone that is pleasing to the eye, or looks good"

"Having really good qualities about yourself; havin a banging body... just that thang"

"In music, a down-tempo beat that is beyond ill: It is retarded"

"just another word for cool, dope, tight, chill, or whatever you say when you like something"

"The state of being high"

"a. Stupid, b. Messed up, c. Crazy, silly, goofy"

With the exception of the last example, I don't see anything to get upset about.

Secondly, it is important to remember that, like many words, the word retarded has several definitions. Before the word retarded was used to label people with poor brain capacity and/or Down's Syndrome, it meant (and still means) that something (anything) was slow or delayed.

When a person uses the word retarded to describe something that is slowing them down out of frustration such as "The new policy at work is so retarded", it makes more sense to me that they mean it is slowing them down, not that it resembles a person who has Down's Syndrome. Therefore, they are using a slang form of the english language, not making a derogatory comment about those who have Down's Syndrome.

Rather than attempt to abolish the word from existence and putting others down for using the english language properly, perhaps we should be celebrating that a word which was once used to label people negatively is now also being used to describe things in a positive way.

Comment edited by SpaceMonkey on 2012-04-17 16:59:55