this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
920 points (98.5% liked)

Greentext

4390 readers
1010 users here now

This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago (3 children)

What is tardy supposed to mean?

[–] SkyezOpen 67 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 59 points 5 months ago (3 children)

For normal people, to be late to something.

For this guy, the R slur against those with learning disorders.

[–] kiagam 26 points 5 months ago (1 children)

you know this is the internet and you are allowed to type whatever you want, right? let me show you: "retarded"

[–] [email protected] 46 points 5 months ago (2 children)

"whatever you want"... they wanted to be a respectful person.

[–] Aermis 34 points 5 months ago (7 children)

Is saying the word retarded without calling some it disrespectful? Is it now a trigger word? I'm genuinely wondering. Because when we were growing up we used the word EVERYWHERE. It was as common as saying "fricken"

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's a slur, that's why. Some slurs are major slurs that are considered offensive even when it's not referring to someone, and I think this is one of them. They're often forbidden because of it, and a lot of people find it easier to follow universal rules than to check the rules of each place they post, because the universal rules will keep you in the clear 95% of the time. And even if not, it's still respectable to not want to use slurs.

And yeah, it did used to be a lot more common. And before that, it was a medical term. That's the way it goes, we have a word to insult people's intelligence, doctors deal with patients who have a disorder causing that, they don't want to use the mean word to refer to the patients, they come up with a new word for it, the word gets out, and then everyone makes it a new word to insult intelligence. Though this one seems to be taking a different track because it hit modern sensibilities, and at the same time I think doctors now know better than to come up with a new word for mental deficiencies.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)

And yeah, it did used to be a lot more common. And before that, it was a medical term.

It's the euphemism treadmill in action.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

That's what it's called, okay. I didn't remember the term.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

We used LOTS of words then that are now not ok to use. Growing as individuals and groups is a good thing, being attentive to others is a good thing, understanding that you see no offence to a word where others do and changing that behaviour betters everyone.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

People used to use the n-word all the time, so it must be perfectly OK to say!

This is the exact same argument. It doesn't work, right? Why would it here? Sure, there may (I doubt it, but I'll leave the possibility open) be other reasons why it's OK to say, but throw that argument out.

[–] bitchkat 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

The n-word did not have any other definitions. Something that is retarded is merely delayed or slowed down usually in the context of some task.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It did though? It was used for black things. The word literally means black.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm not on any side.

But what happens if the word black becomes a slur, or blue or yellow?

Would we give way to those who misuse those words? Let's not be complacent in letting others misuse language. Maybe it's time that we corrected these.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Niger is the Latin word for black (not to be confused with the unrelated niger, as in the nation, which is not Latin in origin). We had stopped using it in English for anything but to (negatively) refer to black people. It didn't have any use except as a negative one.

The same thing is true for the r-word, outside of specific contexts like music where to retard is to slow, as from Latin. Using them in the context of music or medicine is fine (which retard isn't used for a medical condition anymore, but when things slow I belive the term is still used, because Latin). Using it to refer to a person or thing a person does is not. That term is only used negatively, which implies neuro-divergent people are bad.

Yellow can be bad also. If you're referring to someone in a negative racist way as yellow, that's not accepted in society, and I don't think you'd disagree. You can still refer to the color, but to use it as an insult it's not good.

We aren't losing words. If they had any use outside of an insult, they still almost always still have those uses. We gain more words to better refer to people of these groups without insulting them though. Language evolves. Some words leave fashion and new ones come into fashion. I don't think we need to be worried about "losing" words where we have perfectly good alternatives to use instead.

[–] bitchkat -4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah you're not supposed to even say "my son's reading skills are somewhat retarded but we hope he can catch up to his peers". Or "Progess on Trump's border wall has been retarded for various reasons."

[–] Aermis 0 points 5 months ago
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

"IDGI, this person has the option to be the worst version of themselves. Why dont they choose to do that?!? Also why does noone want to be around me? Could it be that marinating my brains in a writhing compost of clapbacks and dunks is desensitizing me to my own dehumanizing? No. Clearly this is because woke."

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (3 children)
[–] SkyezOpen 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I found a training thing that included the phrase "retard power" in an aviation context. The best part was the way it was enunciated. Not "ri-tard" like you do when it's a verb, but long E ree-tard. I absolutely clipped it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

You might be surprised that your sprinkler system has a retard chamber. Also you can still order it under that name.

[–] arin 3 points 5 months ago

Can't say either on twitch or you'll get banned

[–] [email protected] -3 points 5 months ago

chat is this real

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That's hilarious. Is it still in use or say it differently now?

I'm thinking about master>slave in tech. Or rapeseed became Canola. Or how we say Uranus differently.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Printers used to refer to the page separation rollers as retard rollers.

[–] bitchkat 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Not everyone with learning disorders is retarded.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Late.

It comes from Latin tardus = slow

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I still cackle like a twelve year old every time that comes up in Duolingo.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Slow, with cheese

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You're thinking of TARDIS, the time machine.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I'm glad the re-boot didnt call it the re-TARDIS.