Hi!

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Retard" and "retarded" were already common abusive terms when I was in 7th grade in NYC in 1959.

  JL

James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: James Harbeck
Subject: Re: Hi!
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>My, what charming language!

Funny that she goes off on technical competence but can't figure out
how to go to
http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/ads_l_the_american_dialect_society_email_discussion_list/
and read the instructions: "To leave the list at any time, send
"SIGNOFF ADS-L" the complete body of an email message from the
account which you would like to unsubscribe, to
listserv at listserv.uga.edu." Highly intelligent people make slips of
the finger all the time, but most of them can find out how to do what
they want to do when they really want to do it.

I was hoping there would be some fascinating usage in her email to
focus on. Perhaps the most interesting question raised is how long
"retarded" has been a common childish term of abuse. When I was a kid
in the '70s, it was common among elementary and junior-high kids but
faded a bit among high-schoolers and was uncommon, if memory serves,
among university students (mid-'80s). But that was in Calgary.

OED only gives the technical meaning; it doesn't give citations for
the abusive meaning. I'm sure a probable date of incipience for the
term of abuse could be estimated on the basis of when it came into
common usage in the primary-school educational context; there would
be some latency, no doubt, before it first appeared in print in that
usage, little kids not being much for publishing.

As to Ms. Berardinelli I hope some of her professors are on this
list. But then they probably know what a sweetheart she is already.
Next year, University of New Mexico will unleash this scintillating
intellect on the world! (Assuming she doesn't flunk out.) Where, if
she's lucky, she'll get her butt kicked enough times by enough people
(metaphorically, of course) that she'll smarten up and grow up. She's
studying anthropology. How sweet! I just can't wait to see what kind
of success she'll have with research when she has no patience or
concern for others.

(How do I know all this? Because, like anyone at all, I can find it
out with the easiest Google search. On her myspace page
(blog.myspace.com/gekrepten) she has the headline "i say nothing for
the good of myself". Would that it were true.)

Ciao,
James Harbeck.

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