Oh, we had such 'debate' for Polish language too. And the term retard (debil) is not used in medicine anymore, it's mentally handicapped (or something like that) right now.

Calling a person retarded (or debil) is almost always offensive.

Good thing I am not talking about it being a medical term or used for people then. Read the thread.

Same here.

I won't call someone a retard, but I will sometimes call an idea retarded, when I have strong feelings against it.

Unfortunately, you pretty much hit the nail on the head there.

Folks misappropriate parts of our language all the time.

A particular instance of this that greatly annoys me is that people can't talk about sex at face value, so they use other words to portray it instead and those words take a strong sexual connotation afterwards.

Just talk about sex without hiding behind metaphors already and stop perverting our entire vocabulary you sissies.

I don't like changing language, culture and branding things slurs and the people who use them bad simply because some small minority got together and decided to call a word a slur.

One way to use it is offensive, that doesn't make it a slur or mean would should start calling it the "r-word." I could even agree the insane Coulter's use of it here was super offensive but I am responding to the article acting like we can't use the word at all anymore. That is what I find ridiculous.

If a new car design hinders efficiency and I say "that design's retarded" I don't want anyone on my ass about proper and inoffensive use of terms.

What about calling little people Dwarf?

Too damn bad; because that isn't proper, that isn't inoffensive.

Of course, but this is what I am arguing against in this instance. It's a good word with a specific meaning in a lot of situations, I don't wan to toss it away because a small group of people are pretending it is always a slur against the mentally handicapped.

Also I am pretty sure gypsy is not at all offensive in the US, that might be a Europe thing. Here it just means people who constantly migrate and have no real home.

For a long chunk of history, the word "retard" was used to refer to someone with a mental disability -- especially a learning disability. And it was okay.

That word came out of vogue when "retard" was used with extremely prejudiced and evil ways. People would be just wicked with the word. That was in the 1960s.

If you had an IQ of 40, you're probably not sorting through the dictionary looking for alternative meanings of the slurs used against you. You're probably just crying or filling up with rage.

And that's my point. Consider your audience and consider your habits.

Other words to refer to the mentally handicapped are "Idiot," "Imbecile" and "Moron." In general, mentally handicapped individuals do not see a threat from those words b/c people don't use them directed at them. But people do use "retard" at them -- still today.

Does the word have other meanings? Of course! "Retarded" is from the word-combo "Mentally Retarded" to indicate a slow learning ability. But the word means how it is used. And dictionaries and the general populace would most definitely agree that is often used to insult, belittle and intimidate.

Does it have other uses? Yes. Used especially in music. But it's important to not hurt your fellow man. And there's a bunch of folks who claim that their feelings are hurt by the word. If you're going to use the word, it would wise to be mindful of your audience.

I have no problem with anyone saying "don't call the mentally handicapped retarded." Given the definition I would actually say that would be super offensive, they are not holding back progress and shouldn't be treated as such. I wouldn't even have a problem with someone saying "never call people retarded." No problem!

What I have a problem with is treating the word as a slur, hence the thread title. It is not a slur just because it can be offensive. Bitch is not a slur, for example. Use the word appropriately and it should be fine.

It's the "r-word" bullshit I have a problem with.

I always have a hard time with terms for little people. The correct term seems to constantly be changing. I know there are things like "pituitary dwarfism," but I doubt they like being called "dwarfs."

Also, I thought "midget" was okay at some point but I don't think it is.

Certainly, people would rather be called by their name and not their height. But as a people group, I don't know what is appropriate to say.

But said group of people wasn't campaigning against the use of the word as you describe it. Coulter's precise wording was "I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard" - noun, directed towards a person. She wasn't talking about a policy or idea or concept being retarded, she called a presidential candidate outright a "retard".

And even so, the use of "retarded" as a verb to describe an idea implies, by extension, that the person who is the source is equally a "retard", as if it were the sort of idea that would come from someone who is stereotypically handicapped.

One reason for that is that despite what these lobbies try to portray these communities are not one voice. A lot of them find this shit as silly as I do. My girlfriend's best friend is a gay man who says "that's gay" as a negative and calls people "fag" all the time. When you ask him about those words being offensive he laughs and calls you silly.
Read above, I have no problem with saying not to use it in that manner.

What is the harm in using it appropriately? Why does it have to be an all-around slur just because it's uncool to call people that? I don't understand your motivation in so frivilously changing language.

Also, perhaps more to the point, why can't we accept that people are a product of their time? We act like people are evil for using language that was commonplace when they were learning how to speak, and I don't think that is fair.

As far as I know, "dwarf" is the correct term and the dwarves I know of don't have a problem with it. The German translation - "Zwerg" - is sometimes used to talk to kids somewhat antagonistically and is a bit offensive though. We don't really have a correct term though. "Kleinwüchsiger" comes across as patronising, "Zwerg" is offensive and "Liliputaner" is just silly, but seems to be the most common in any case.

Hell, we have a LAN member who measures in at a proud 1.30m and signs into CoD4 with the name "Gimli". Not kidding here.