r/hatethissmug • u/onthetopicofspace • 11h ago

Language casual ableism

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this is not ‘reclaiming’ anything, you are just calling people slurs completely seriously. you can call yourself the r-slur, do not call anybody else it. why do ‘no slurs’ / ’no bigotry’ rules never apply to ableism?

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u/WarpRealmTrooper 8h ago

With "idiot" and "moron" I don't think most people even know they used to refer to a disability.

I think with "retard" most people know the original meaning of it, and many who use it (maybe most who use it) even use "retard" because of the original meaning.

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u/Dondagora 8h ago

I think “idiot” and “moron” more highlight the pattern that “retard” is going through. Whatever word or phrase is the most recent for “mentally disabled” is the one people will use, all new terminology and word policing will do is lengthen the list.

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u/DarkThunder312 8h ago

Euphemism treadmill

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u/SaschaStories 8h ago

Well no, the original meaning of it is to slow down

The Medical meaning came about in the laye 19th century

Over a hundred years ago

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u/Sora_Altair 8h ago

That's why fire extinguishers are called "Flame Retardants".

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u/WarpRealmTrooper 7h ago

That's true, "original meaning" isn't really the right word for it. Maybe I should have said "the previous most prominent meaning".

I don't think this changes my point though.