It is hard to argue against this article, but I feel a lot of social capital to accomplish these things was burned up on freaking out about terms like flipbook, chink in armor, niggardly, master-slave IDE interface, black hole, etc. It has now become a regular occurrence among my friends to say "that's racist" when something even refers to race, _or sounds like it does_ for instance.

As a boy, the word "retard" was part of my vocabulary. I used it to describe concepts that were dumb or irrational. I continued to use it into adulthood without thinking. I did not realize how offensive it was until my girlfriend called me out on it. So now I just use the word "dumb." I hope I am not offending any groups now.

Surely you will be upsetting people who, for whatever reason, are unable to speak?

I sometimes wonder whether Americans realise that "retard" is pretty much hate-speech in England.

If you're the kind of person who doesn't say things like "I was Jewed on that deal" you should probably avoid using the word "retard" unless you're talking about watch mechanisms.

Pretty soon all descriptive words are going to be deemed bad and banned.

Whatever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"?

Other than it being untrue? Words have definitely hurt me. Words have made me cry. Words have made me yell out in frustration and anger. Words have also made me smile, and laugh, and cheered me up.

And the euphemism treadmill continues...

idiot -> moron -> retard -> special -> mentally challenged -> person with learning difficulties

If only we could retard the process.