It's no different from saying "SOPA is gay!!!"
Seems fine to me, especially considering it's no longer socially acceptable to use the word to describe the mentally disabled. Using gay however, is a completely different scenario. Retarded reflects on mental performance, while gay reflects on sexuality.
English already has so few words - we might as well use the ones we have.
The OP doesn't use it to mean "backwards" , "delayed" or "less advanced". He means "stupid" and should just say so.
> it's no longer socially acceptable to use the word to describe the mentally disabled
Looking on Wordnik [1], four dictionaries out of five list "retard" as having to do with mental retardation (Wordnet 3.0 actually doesn't mention it according to Wordnik, but a quick search reveals that it actually does [2]).
Wikipedia [3], in fact, argues that "mental retardation" is on a "euphemistic treadmill" [4]. I'll allow Wikipedia to take it away:
The terms mental retardation and mentally retarded were invented in the middle of the 20th century to replace the previous set of terms, which were deemed to have become offensive. By the end of the 20th century, these terms themselves have come to be widely seen as disparaging and politically incorrect and in need of replacement.
The term "mentally retarded" is no longer "socially acceptable", precisely because it perceived to be "disparaging".
> Using gay however, is a completely different scenario. Retarded reflects on mental performance, while gay reflects on sexuality.
People who are mentally disabled are unable to change it. As far as I know, the same applies to one's sexual orientation.
The OP uses the word "retarded" by saying "let's not be retarded". My state of retardation doesn't change from second to second; it's fixed at birth. Insulting what one can't change is the most powerful type of insult. If you call me "stupid", I can always work to be less ignorant. If you call me a "chink" because I'm Chinese, I can't change that, and I feel more insulted.
> English already has so few words - we might as well use the ones we have.
That's a horrible reason. Simply using the word "idiotic", "dense", or any other works just fine in the OP's sentence. None of those refer to immutable characteristics such as "gay", "retard", or "chink".
When communicating, there isn't any reason to use a potentially offensive word, especially when there are a plethora of less insulting ones available.
Edit: Changed "sexual preferences" to "sexual orientation". Thanks emmapersky!
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1. http://www.wordnik.com/words/retard
2. http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=retarded&su...
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_retardation#cite_note-is...
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism_treadmill#Euphemism_t...
Unless you want to offend. You might want to offend to signal the intensity of your rage. Minor range can warrant words like idiotic or stupid, major range calls for words like "fucking retarded git"
> The OP uses the word "retarded" by saying "let's not be retarded". My state of retardation doesn't change from second to second; it's fixed at birth. Insulting what one can't change is the most powerful type of insult. If you call me "stupid", I can always work to be less ignorant. If you call me a "chink" because I'm Chinese, I can't change that, and I feel more insulted.
Unless you really are retarded, he clearly meant that you shouldn't behave like somebody who is mentally disabled, so I don't see the similarity to the word "chink".
Sorry, but I just had to point out the "Sexual Preference" implies choice, which, as you correctly point out is not something people choose. I think the phrase you were searching for was "Sexual Orientation"
