this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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I never actually understood why retarded was used by mechanics when a car wasn't running right "The timing on this is a bit retarded" but now I know. Thank you
surprisingly the opposite is advanced timing, protarded isn't a word.
There is retrograde <> prograde but only Kerbal players know what it means ;)
Not really surprising. That last part "tard" comes from the Latin tardus which basically means slow or late. The "re" particle originally just had a meaning of repetition, in this case. So being late (not for the first time? ) So changing the first part of the word wouldn't change the meaning of it so easily. Maybe technically something like "intard" could make sense in that way (similarly as what you find in words like indomitable, impossible, ineffective etc), but it doesn't really exist. Or if we want to make it more meme-like, tarden't?
Protarded actually exists as a slang with completely different meaning, but that's out of scope
Overall useless information for most, but anyway
Interesting. Always new stuff to be learned.
There's also a thing called a retarder built into lorries and other heavy vehicles so they don't melt their brake pads, think engine breaking as the basic version, add special engineering sauce and you get something that is good at slowing stuff down without burning up, but not good at all at arresting it in place. The term is also used with railroads but those are actual breaks. Similar to the ones you see on roller-coasters.