Hacker News Reader

Comment by cgs1019 | Hacker News Reader

Sorry for incorrectly presuming you used it knowingly. The word "retarded" as it is commonly used in modern colloquial English originates with its use to describe people with mental disabilities of one form or another: they were at one time classified broadly as "mentally retarded". That was gradually abbreviated as "retarded", which has gradually been used as an insulting term for all manner of things (including but by no means limited to humans).

View on HN

Get of your high horse, will ya. We all know what he meant by "retarded". This pedantic nitpicking does nothing but sidetrack the discussion.

I know what the word means. I also know its slang meaning, which you appear to be ignoring. Now, please do suggest an alternative that carries the same expressive load in a similarly succulent manner, but without being "offensive to other groups".

I am not ignoring its slang meaning -- it's that meaning that I am saying is unnecessary. I think using slang that derives from segregating concepts is damaging to society. I'm not on a high horse, I just think most people aren't conscious of it and it's worth thinking about and pointing out. An alternative would be anything that conveys what you're really trying to convey without using such terms. "Asinine" is a good one because it conveys intent as well as ineptitude. And frankly I think it's more biting than "retarded" which comes across as a cheap shot. Hope my comments are of some value. I mean well.

"Fucking dumb" - Dumb meaning very stupid. "Very fucking stupid" has a bunch of syllables to help release those energies too, if that's what you're going after / feel you need.

"Dumb" actually has the same problem as "retarded". We are just not as concerned about the politically incorrect implications to the group of people which are unable to speak.

Indeed. The verb of dumb is "Simplify or reduce the intellectual content of something so as to make it accessible to a larger number of people;" Essentially turning something into layman's terms - layperson's terms?

Context that matters the most. Groups can either try to reclaim the word or start using new ones, which I believe many are doing.

succulent > succinct, perhaps?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com