I think you’re asking about the etymology of the word (but your literal question would be answered “same reason as any word has its meaning”) which is not in question, hence the “any more” part of my comment.
No, I asked you why because the reason it means ‘stupid’ (colloquially) is because idiots have a longstanding societal tendency to latch on to pyschological terms in order to convey meaning they don’t fully understand.
You see this with other terms, like idiots suggesting that a desire to be orderly must be OCD. Or I’m scared of spiders so I have PTSD after finding a black widow.
Look at Rosa’s Law, signed into federal law in 2010 in the U.S. The word is officially recognized as a slur, societally and intellectually - at least in the U.S. You use that word to compare someone to a group of people that do not get to choose whether they’re mentally challenged. It’s degrading and demeaning.
If you wouldn’t use the n-word you shouldn’t use the r-word.
I’m not really seeing an argument for why the meaning of the term can’t evolve, just like “stupid” did. And I’m definitely not clear what you’re trying to convey when taking about OCD and PTSD - we’re already agreed that there are two different relevant meanings to “retarded”.
It means “stupid” (which itself had a specific meaning ages ago)
Why does it mean stupid?
I think you’re asking about the etymology of the word (but your literal question would be answered “same reason as any word has its meaning”) which is not in question, hence the “any more” part of my comment.
No, I asked you why because the reason it means ‘stupid’ (colloquially) is because idiots have a longstanding societal tendency to latch on to pyschological terms in order to convey meaning they don’t fully understand.
You see this with other terms, like idiots suggesting that a desire to be orderly must be OCD. Or I’m scared of spiders so I have PTSD after finding a black widow.
Look at Rosa’s Law, signed into federal law in 2010 in the U.S. The word is officially recognized as a slur, societally and intellectually - at least in the U.S. You use that word to compare someone to a group of people that do not get to choose whether they’re mentally challenged. It’s degrading and demeaning.
If you wouldn’t use the n-word you shouldn’t use the r-word.
I’m not really seeing an argument for why the meaning of the term can’t evolve, just like “stupid” did. And I’m definitely not clear what you’re trying to convey when taking about OCD and PTSD - we’re already agreed that there are two different relevant meanings to “retarded”.