I generally support President Donald Trump and his policies, especially his willingness to take the fight to his enemies. It is such a refreshing feeling to have a Republican who actually fights instead of backing down at the first hint of a harsh word from the Democrats. Still, there are times when the President might be better served by remaining silent. At least the President ought to avoid using schoolyard insults against his opponents.
I am referring, of course, to Trump’s recent comments calling Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “Seriously retarded”. The Democrats and the mainstream media, I’m being redundant, have magnified this taunt into a major scandal, on par with the imaginary war crimes committed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the Caribbean. Juvenile insults, although undignified, are hardly a scandal. We might wish for a more decorous president, but Trump is what we have. Trump, after all, was not really insulting handicapped people. ‘Retarded’ is a word that has entered the vernacular as a synonym for stupid or foolish.
I do not really approve of this usage. To my mind, the word retarded denoted a person who, because of an injury or disease of the brain, generally the result of a birth defect, suffers from below normal intelligence. Such a condition is not the fault of the persons suffering from it, and they deserve no blame if they cannot perform as well as those who are more fortunate. They may be doing as well as they can with what nature has provided them.
A stupid or foolish person is presumably of normal or even above normal intelligence who does not do as well as he can with what nature has provided him. Because such a person does not utilize his abilities, he deserves any opprobrium he receives. I dislike the use of the word retarded to refer to such a person because it confuses this vital distinction.
It is interesting and perhaps ironic that retarded is considered a slur. Instead, we are urged to use euphemisms such as mentally challenged or intellectually disabled. Yet, the word retarded itself began as a euphemism. The word retard simply means slow or to slow. It is derived from the French word “retarder,” which means to restrain or hold back. Retarder, in its turn, originated from the Latin word “retardere”, meaning to slow, to hold back, or to delay. In English, to retard means to slow down or decelerate. The idea, then, is that a person who is mentally disabled is not lacking something. He is slow in developing.
Retarded was an euphemism for the previous terms moron, imbecile, and idiot, which were themselves euphemisms in the prior term feebleminded. As far as I can learn, feebleminded was the first ‘scientific’ expression used to describe the mentally disabled. Before the late nineteenth century, there wasn’t a single word for such people. They were simply halfwits or stupid. Feebleminded is hardly a compliment and somewhat vague, so better terminology was needed. In 1910, Henry H. Goddard introduced a series of terms, moron, imbecile, and idiot, to describe differing levels of intellectual disability. While each of these words was already used in common speech, Goddard used them in a more precise and scientific manner.
A moron was the highest level. Moron is derived from the Greek word ‘moros’, meaning a fool. According to Goddard’s scheme, a moron has an IQ ranging from 51-70. A moron could live by himself and take care of his basic needs with assistance. He could perform simple jobs, but could not take advantage of higher education and would struggle with advanced or abstract mental tasks. Incidentally, moros is also found in the word sophomore, the usual term for a second-year student in college or high school. Sophomore means ‘wise fool,’ and presumably, a second-year student has acquired some knowledge but is still ignorant.
The next level in Goddard’s scheme was the imbecile. Imbecile comes from the Latin word ‘imbecillus’, meaning weak. Originally, imbecillus could mean either physical or mental weakness, but over time, the word became reserved for mental weakness. An imbecile has an IQ ranging from 26-50. An imbecile could take care of himself with supervision. He wouldnot have to be institutionalized, but did require supervision and care.
Idiot has the most interesting etymology. Originally, the Greek word ‘idiotes’ simply meant a private person, a person not taking part in politics or interested in the affairs of the polis. There was no connotation of unintelligence. The Romans picked up the word as ‘idiota’ to mean an uneducated, crude person. The French added the meaning stupid to ‘idiote,’ and so idiot was added to English. An individual with an IQ of 0-25 is considered an idiot. An idiot is incapable of taking care of himself or performing basic tasks and often must be placed in an institution.
Despite Dr. Goddard’s intentions, all these words became terms of oprobium, and by the middle of the twentieth century, mentally retarded became the preferred word. As we have seen, retarded has itself become an insult, so words like intellectually disabled or mentally challenged have become current. This process is called the euphemism treadmill. A euphemism treadmill is a process in which pleasant alternatives to offensive, salacious, or obscene words become themselves offensive, salacious, or obscene, requiring new euphemisms. In time, words like intellectually disabled will become aspersions, and they’ll have to come up with new terminology.
But the euphemism treadmill works in unexpected directions. The meaning of retarded has shifted to the point where it is no more a slur against the mentally challenged than such words as moron, idiot or imbecile. They have all become synonyms for stupid. With that in mind, President Trump is correct. For allowing hundreds of thousands of Somali illegal immigrants to overwhelm his state and getting away with welfare fraud, as well as other acts of incompetence, Tampon Tim Walz is seriously retarded.
David's Commonplace Book 