Seasons

Well retard means slow in italian, so I guess that's not politically correct. I guess the most correct way to call them is whatever their disease is(such as Down Syndrome victim or something).

Yes, "slow" is exact;y what it means. Which seems more politically correct to me than "incapable". But the definition of mental retardation has nothing to do with any specific ailment, it's just showing up in the lowest standard deviation on the IQ bell curve.

It depends on the way words are used in conversation. Kids will call each other "retard" or say "That is so retarded." Use the word "victim" around certain people, too, and you will get an earful.

I wasn't even supposed to call my clients "clients" but "consumers."

Why not? LOL
"I can't come to dinner honey cause I have another client coming in"

"Consumer" was an eerily appropriate term, because taking care of them really does consume you.

Well, *were* they clients? Were they paying you for a service? Or were they merely consuming public funds?

I can see why someone would object to being called a victim. Calling someone a victim isn't far off from calling them a mark. Unless they really are victims -- casualties of the acts of others who could not reasonably be expected to have prevented it.

In another language, French I think, it means late. When I was studying in Israel we had a lot of fun with that whenever a student was late getting on the bus. We also had fun with the technical definition of "moron" which is someone with the mental capacity of a 7-12 year old. So if you call a six-year-old a moron, it's actually a compliment.

Mr. Crab, I haven't forgotten your discussion, I just haven't been alert enough to think hard when I've been at home and online.

I don't remember it now Eugene, but I'm sure any debate will be fun...

"en retard" is a 'complex verb', meaning "to be late"

don't you just miss english class?

I got one of the good library computers today, but it´s the one with the Spanish keyboard. I´m not familiar with the layout and I keep making typos.

Mr. Crab: good point. They weren't paying me. It was the government.

I hung out with retarded/autistic people at their small, usually part-time jobs for one of two reasons: they had the minds of small children, or they had a history of criminal violence. Injuring people to the point of hospitalization, raping anything on two legs, that sort of thing. Why the second category wasn't locked up for the rest of their natural lives is beyond me.

Yeah, they were consumers. But I still don't like that term. It makes them sound like savvy customers checking Consumer Reports, Epinions, etc. before they buy. It would mean they had the power.