Can someone tell me what Palintard means?

[trumad]

Because if it means what I think it means, I'm amazed that it's brandished around in DU?

[Blue_In_AK]

1. We call them Palinistas up here.

Much more PC. Palinbots works, as well.

[renie408]

2. It means what you think it means. n/t

[Yes We Did]

3. Do you really need to ask that?

You probably didn't like Tropic Thunder either...

[BuyingThyme]

4. I suspect it means retarded like Palin.

[bunnies]

5. I'm guessing its like "freeptard".

No one complains when thats used here.

[trumad]

6. Well--- I have a close relative that is mentally challenged

and honestly--- I flinch when I hear the word.

It's insulting but I guess I can live with it.

[javadu]

10. I Flinch Also

and it is insulting. I am glad I am not the only one.

[napoleon_in_rags]

7. Its surely from freeptard, but yeah, its sort of innapropriate.

If your asking whether its related to her kid having Down's syndrome, I assure you that it hasn't been intended that way.

[ieoeja]

8. I am with you trumad. This place has gone overboard with the childish name-calling.

It doesn't bother me when they toss it at Limbaugh and the Freepers given that this is the level of discourse enjoyed by Limbaugh and the Freepers. But until McCain/Palin go that route, we should treat them like individuals selected to represent nearly half of the American public in this election.

And McCain won't. Because, for all his horrible decision making and immoral stances on so many issues, McCain has more class than the DU class of 2008.

[bunnies]

11. WTF?! "McCain has more class than the DU class of 2008"

You are out of your frigging mind. And McCain hasnt name-called?! What planet are you on?

[WhollyHeretic]

12. I won't use that term but; what fucking universe are you living in?

McCain has more class? :wtf: he hasn't gone down that route? :wtf: obviously you haven't turned on a TV, read a newspaper or looked into one of them internet tubes in the past 2 months.

[SteveM]

9. I thought it meant she was cracking porcelain (nt)

[Silent3]

13. The words "moron", "imbecile" and "idiot"...

...all used to be used as actual clinical diagnoses for different levels of mental retardation (with "morons" being mildly retarded, imbeciles moderately retarded, and idiots being severely or profoundly retarded).

Clinical use of those words apparently continued into the early 1970s. By that time the distinctions had long ago been blurred by common usage, and long ago the words had turned into casual insults.

I personally find calling someone a "retard" offensive just as you do, and that applies to derivatives like "tard" and "freeptard" as well. I don't, however, find "moron", "imbecile" and "idiot" offensive the same way. Those words themselves are, of course, deliberately offensive, but the use of those words to refer to people who are acting stupid without the good excuse of a inherent mental defect does not offend me.

I think what's happening is one of those unavoidable shifts in language over time. For me, when I hear "retard" used as an insult, it still stings like I'm hearing someone make fun of innocent people with real medical problems affecting intelligence. For other people, however, the connection to a clinical diagnosis is being lost. "Retard" is simply another word like "moron" and "idiot", to be casually used to comment on the stupidity of those we consider to be willfully ignorant or lazily thoughtless, to chide someone having the kind of transient stupidity that we all suffer from now and then, with no thought or desire to insult people with real clinical deficiencies.

[Forkboy]

14. Hurricane fans.