Fucking stupid people

[knittedbreast]

They have only gone and burnt down 50k worth of play equiptment at the local play park.

Thanks

Why?

For what it's worth, knittedbreast, it never occurred to me that you were using inappropriate language either. But I sure as hell won't be using that word again.

knittedbreast I do believe you are a bit thick. And from this day forth should be known as knittedbrain

HTH

I have a friend who I went to college with who gets really offended if you use the word 'retard' because his younger sister got meningitis when she was 2 weeks old and is seriously brain damaged, she is 15 and in a wheelchair and cannot do anything for herself, she is basically a 15 year old baby. I have met her a couple of times and she is such a happy person! Even if she can't speak or do anything, she smiles and laughs at everything!

Do you think the same applies to those people who call themselves retards? My DP does that, because he can't read or write very well. He gets annoyed and frustrated if he can't think how to spell something and will sometimes say something like "I wish I wasn't so retarded :(" I feel bad for him sometimes. He gets jealous of me because I have no problems spelling, reading and writing.

:o @ Apocalypse

Knitted, are you new round here ?

The use of that word has been discussed several times on this site over the years.

its not hateful at all. hateful of whom? it might be hateful if you said it, if thats how you view it. but most people will take it in the context used, if i had written on a post about children with sn and called them that fine but i havent i have used it to refer to the stupid people who burnt down a play park.

Words and their meanings evolve, i am 25. in my generation everyone used that term, at school, college and uni. not once did anyone assume we meant sn, it was never even considered that way. im sorry if you are so offended by it, but there many people who use this term without it refering to sn.

Also it was nothing to do with children!! it was the 15-20yr old gang members round here are burning down our parks, shops, schools etc.

Hprrid word, glad it was deleted.

On the OP, someone broke into the schoolyard a few years ago and burned down the beautiful old oak tree and Noah's Ark used by Reception; area of special historical significance (not sure of title- built on a Roman site) so they can only fence in willow. Wankers. back home some twat left a GUN on a slide at the park and the police apaprently 9admittedly via newspaper) took 2 hours to remove.

There are people in this world whom I never will understand.

knittedbreast, intent and offence are two different things. And I think your argument about language evolving is irrelevant for a couple of reasons. One, most people find retard offensive still (and you can't undo years of abuse and etymology through mere intent). Two, it's hardly evolving. It's continuing to be used unchecked by people who don't understand the true history behind it or the upset it causes.

It's okay that you didn't know it was such a pejorative term but when it's pointed out to you, it's gracious to apologise and move on.

Knittedbreast people with a dx of merntal retardation fo not remain children; age is not significant in the use of the term. It evolved as a term for twattery becuase people were originally referring to people with a learning disability; like many other words, which also are not generally acceptable on here.

And yes, I find it offensive as Mum to a broof of chidlren with SN; they;lve beenc alled it as a hate term at school (also Mong, Spaz). (DS1- AS; DS2- Dyspraxia; ds3- Autism; ds4 under assessment)

So when you were using this word as an insult at school/college/uni what on earth did u think it meant?! It's a horrible hateful word and there really is no excuse for using it.

I think you l find i already apologised if other people found offence to it.

So twattery is allowed? im confused if they are all the same why can i say twat and not the R word?

sanctimoney-surely saying that people who have mental retardation is the same as saying the word anyway? if you are saying there are people with retardation but you cant call them reYOUKNOWWHAT ? isnt that exactly them same thing?

shouldnt they be people with mental disbilities rather than retardation?

It also depends on where you live on how the word is interpreted. I read a while ago in the paper about an american toy company that made a new Transformers toy called 'Spastic', it was a huge hit in America but when they released it over here they couldn't understand why everyone was so angry at the use of that word! Apparantly in America it means clumsy!

good grief is the op still trying to make using that word ok.....
is the thread title a self decriprtion

You are still defending the use of the word. That's hardly apologetic behaviour.

And you ask why you can say 'mental retardation' but you can't call people retards. Well, for a start you were equating the word 'retard' with 'fucking stupid people'. So you are creating a syllogism. Retards are fucking stupid people if we use the word in the way you did, so people diagnosed with mental retardation are fucking stupid. Can you seriously not see the problem?

Just man up and admit you made a mistake.

I'm only a few years younger than you OP and 'retard' was definitely not an ok term to use when I was growing up, especially in secondary school, primary school it got used a bit more.

They just called me a 'spaz' instead.... :(

Some people I worked with did a horrible impression of someone with CP using a similar term to 'spaz' and implying that people with SN lack a brain (sorry if that upsets anyone, it made me cry). One of those people was a manager, another was someone who also told me I 'looked special needs' (not knowing, at that time that I have SN). They did that right in front of the AD who sacked me a few weeks later for having too much disability related issues and sick leave. He KNEW I was disabled and didn't stop them, just laughed his head off. People find these words offensive as they're often used by people who mistreat people with disabilities and SN. They're not funny, they're not clever and they offend, even when not describing someone with SN.

She has said sorry. What do some of you want? Blood?

This thread's going well.

She apologised for causing offence, not for the use of the word. And continues to defind it. Just recognising she made a mistake without the ffs and rolling of her eyes nonsense would do.

I tell my 9 year old not to use a word when he doesn't know what it means.
Accepted terms (way back when) were mental retardation and Spastic. Until they became used asthe most ugly offensive insults 'retard' 'spaz'. They then became unacceptable in society and only heard when casually slung about by school kids. I suppose it's surprising to hear adults using it without knowing it's origins.

and as for spastic being an accepted term for clumsy

I kind of get that she's still trying to defend herself but I think she was not intending to offend disabled people. Just the idiots who wrecked the playground. When I come to think of it wasn't the word 'idiot' highly perjorative years ago. Now we use it all the time.