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Originally Posted by Ensign Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by Javaman
True. The underpinnings have always been an attempt to address the specifics (usually the differences) of people without sounding like a jerk. I can't imagine that, nowadays, you would hear a reporter say something like, "A local charity took a group of retards to the museum today."
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Connotations easily change over time. "Idiot," "imbecile," and "moron" were once neutral terms for a person of toddler, preschool, and primary school mental ages. As with Gresham's law, negative connotations tend to crowd out neutral ones, so the phrase mentally retarded was pressed into service to replace them. Now that too is considered rude, used commonly as an insult of a person, thing, or idea. As a result, new terms like "developmentally disabled", "mentally challenged," "with an intellectual disability" and "special needs" have replaced "retarded." A similar progression occurred with lame  crippled handicapped disabled ...
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wikisource
What do you all make of that? Is it just a natural evolution of the language? Cuz it's kind of stupid. |
Yes. Natural evolution of language.