PC and the word retard

Washington DC

Description

When I was a little kid in the early 60s, I referred to a kid in my school as an idiot. My mother who has never said a swear word or slur in her life explained to me that the child I referred to was not an idiot. He was just retarded. That was the correct PC term for it at the time and it implied these children were merely a bit behind the rest of us and that someday they might catch up. It was the nice way to frame it. So of course me and every other kid quickly started using that word as an insult instead of idiot. So they changed it to mentally handicapped. Then kids made that a slur. Then learning disabled. Then kids made that a slur. I don't even know the current PC term but whatever it is, kids will start using it as an insult toward each other and PC people will come up with a new term and start the cycle all over.