I wasn’t trying to defend it’s usage as an insult, rather I pointed out that more likely than not, you wouldn’t have cared if he used any other term that is interchangeable in that context.
I choose this word carefully - don’t be an idiot.
I can understand this, but Frink can never shut up about how [phrase or word used] is offensive. It seems to me that he’s just one of those people, and like I said, I don’t want to sound offensive, but he just has to read stuff that way. You do realize that there are almost zero insulting phrases that don’t originate from an illness, mutation, or sex. The word “dumb” is the same, just like “stupid”, “idiot”, etc.
Words like “dumb” and “stupid” and “idiot” are not interchangeable with “retarded.” That’s the whole fucking point. No one says “there’s a girl in our class who has a teacher’s aide with her at all times, I think it’s because she’s an idiot.” If you are interchanging words that are used as insults with the word retarded, you’re the idiot. But you aren’t retarded.
I meant they are interchangeable as insults, not by literal definition. Don’t be an idiot. His statement was an “or do I sound retarded?”. In this context, you can switch “retarded” with “stupid”, or “like an idiot”, or “like a moron”.
“or do I sound stupid?”
“or do I sound like an idiot?”
“or do I sound like a moron?”
You can’t be this stupid, can you?