Sunday, November 29, 2009

He's just slow

An Oregonian columnist wrote yesterday that we should stop using "retarded" as a slur. She's right - hurtful insulting language is mean.

But I can't help but reflect on how many insults began as the kindest possible language. Retarded does simply mean slow. (Still does in Italian.) Now we use "developmentally delayed", because kids heard "retarded" and started using it with malice in their hearts.

The same is true of words like moron and idiot - once technical terms intended to be used with the greatest compassion, now raw insults with the power to burn. And very liberal, tolerant people used to use the word "Negro" out of the deepest respect. A word that in its roots really does just mean the same as the one in common use today - Black.

It's the way of things - we see our words are causing harm, and we find new words to try to fix the problem. And in a generation, the new words will have stopped working, and we have to try again. It's work we must do, but it doesn't mean we'll ever be done.

1 comment:

Erin said...

I've often thought about the linguistics of such words...you can add 'gay' amongst others in that pack.

Living in Chicago, all of my black friends liked being called black. I say that here, and I get all sorts of odd looks from my white friends and corrections of "Afrian American".

No, it's black.

Also, working for the ARC of our county, I learned how the mentally disabled readily self-identify as retarded in the appropriate medical sense.

It kind of all depends on who you ask.