Field of Deets

I love language. I love speaking it, writing it, hearing it, and reading it, but most of all, I love analyzing it. People go so far out of their way to sound stupid that to a guy like me, it is constant entertainment. For example, something I was thinking about today, when did the term "retard" become so offensive, who deemed it so, and why? It isn't inherently 'bad,' as the word "Fuck" might be considered. And I'm not even going to get started on why some words are "curse words" and some words are not and blah, blah, blah. Let's stay focused on Retard. Calling someonea retard a retard is like calling a baseball player a baseball player. People are so afraid to acknowledge the things that make us different. Call the fat guy "fat." He is, he isn't "heavy set" or "big boned." Why don't you call the skinny guy "physically inferior?" Or say the smart kid "lacks the ability to forget things." Euphemisms. Hate 'em. Fragments. Hate 'em too. My theory is that the word was given its current, derogatory connotation by elementary school bullies. Sorry for the passive voice in that sentence. School yard bullies probably ran around calling kids Retards and some teachers and other adults thought that kids shouldn't use the condition of other kids (more passive voice) to belittle the rest of the kids. So somebody decided to change the term used to define these kids. This somebody thought that they needed something that kids wouldn't use to yell across the playground at the kid who pissed his pants just before recess. So how about Mentally Handicapped? Not bad. Billy the bully won't be yelling six syllables at Peter the pisser who is sitting, legs crossed, 40 yards away behind a shed waiting for his pants to dry.

As Maude Lebowski might say, it is the parlance of our times.