The R word

[Dave Wilton]

"The R word" for retard is reasonably common. It's seen all the time in the
coverage of Sarah Palin, due to her son's disability. See also
www.r-word.org.



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 9:22 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: The R word

Actually it isn't. It sure wasn't when I was in junior high, though then it
was still possible to say either one without quite being shamed to a cinder
by the nearest adult.

JL

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 9:11 PM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: The R word
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>
> "Retarded" is the polite form.
>
> Eric
>
> On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 5:38 PM, Mark Jakubik <mjakubik3 at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > "retard"?
> >
>
>
> >  On May 10, 2011, at 5:36 PM, William Palmer wrote:
> >
>  > > Our local ABC affiliate just reported that Lebron James had been
> fined
> > for
> > > using the R word (towards a ref)
> > >
> > > I have to ask, what is the R word? Maybe senility...
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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