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What's something you used to do/see/say but don't anymore because you don't feel it's right? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Me personally? I've become much less tolerant of sexist humor. Back in the day, cracking a joke at women's expense was pretty common when I was a teen. As I've matured and become aware to the horrific extent of toxicity and bigotry pervading all tiers of our individualistic society, I've come to see how exclusionarly and objectifying that sort of 'humor' really is, and I regret it deeply.

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[–] 11 points 3 years ago (2 children)

"Gay" was one I never used. "Retarded" is one I don't use any more but still admittedly find kind of funny. I spent a number of years as a kid in the 80s living in New England and for me it will always be "Re-tah-ded."

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  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago* (3 children)

    I miss "Retarded" so much for how it was used in slang but it's pretty irredeemable as a word at this point. Nothing really replaced it as a call-out, which sucks.

    Even before it was considered offensive, I generally took the Michael Scott route with the word.

    I feel the same about the f-slur for gays. I'm in the LGBT + community and still miss that word too.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago

    I think given enough time it could make a comeback. A few generations of people who used it to refer to the developmental disability will need to die off. Language changes and insults come and go. I'll be dead for sure, but in the meantime when something inane is happening to me I can still go back to my childhood vocab and think to myself, "This is retarded."

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    It literally is just a substitute for idiot. There are tons of words you can use. Here's a list of 123: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idiot

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    I am aware that it has synonyms, but it's not just a substitute for idiot. It meant a specific thing

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    It means someone has a developmental disability. But that is not how people used it. They used it to call someone an idiot, 100%. If someone did something dumb, they would retort "retard". How is that not exactly how it was/is used? Call them a bafoon, hammerhead, numskull, nincompoop, a schnook, make up a word for all I care. But to use a word that describes someone with a developmental disability should not be used as an insult. Don't complain about there not being a substitute when there's hundreds of options. You just seem to want to use it.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago

    A person you insulted in that was being an idiot, but you used a different, harsher word for specific effect.

    That's what isn't replaced. An S-tier idiot, described in one word.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    It's probably specific to my social circles, but in the late '00s some of my family and acquaintances started using certain vegetable and food names as synonyms for stupid person. E.g. "you carrot", "you cake". I guess this was a less openly offensive way of disparaging someone's intelligence.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Is this a localised to the US thing? Here in Aus I've never heard removed being used as either an insult or linked to someone with a developmental disability. What context is it used in for a developmental disability?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Did you mean to say "removed"? We're talking about the word "retard"

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Interesting. Lemmy.ml has a filter that replaces slurs with removed, so I guess that's what @Event_Horizon@lemmy.ml saw

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    Oooooooooooh shit that makes sense now hahahahahaha.

    I didn't even know there was a word filter!

    I'm sitting here all confused thinking "Removed" was the actual word not what is being displayed here

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Nothing really replaced it as a call-out, which sucks.

    There are lots of words one can use: "Wanker", "Idiot", "Dumb-ass".

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Wanker is the closest in approximate meaning, but I'm not British

    If you're British you'll know what I mean. Wanker isn't interchangeable with idiot 100%. There's more... Edge?

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