Well, the confusion comes because "mentally retarded" has an actual, scientific meaning (which is usually given an IQ lower than 70 points, and can be considered a mental illness) which is different to the popular culture definition (someone who does something stupid, learns slowly etc.). There are two definitions in use.
The word has two different meanings, one which is much more serious and extreme than the other. Someone who maybe does learn a bit slowly but is certainly not mentally ill won't like being told they have a full-blown mental illness.
What I find surprising is that most people I've met seem to see it the other way around. When I'm in psychology class and I describe a case in which someone is scientifically speaking mentally retarded, people are shocked and offended when I use the word "retarded" or "retard", even though it's correct. The same people who act offended are the one's who use the word all the time in a casual sense.
I'm not sure where the word started to get a bad rep. Some people might just be brainwashed by societies standards that they think one thing but subconsciously feel how you do about the word so they use it without realizing it.
IIN I'm bothered that people are bothered by the term 'retard'?
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Well, the confusion comes because "mentally retarded" has an actual, scientific meaning (which is usually given an IQ lower than 70 points, and can be considered a mental illness) which is different to the popular culture definition (someone who does something stupid, learns slowly etc.). There are two definitions in use.
The word has two different meanings, one which is much more serious and extreme than the other. Someone who maybe does learn a bit slowly but is certainly not mentally ill won't like being told they have a full-blown mental illness.
What I find surprising is that most people I've met seem to see it the other way around. When I'm in psychology class and I describe a case in which someone is scientifically speaking mentally retarded, people are shocked and offended when I use the word "retarded" or "retard", even though it's correct. The same people who act offended are the one's who use the word all the time in a casual sense.
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10 years ago
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I'm not sure where the word started to get a bad rep. Some people might just be brainwashed by societies standards that they think one thing but subconsciously feel how you do about the word so they use it without realizing it.