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Etymology of the Day: March of the "Tard"s
7
The first time I heard the "ard" was my Catholic elementary school choir teacher yelling (I'm assuming Italian?) "ritardando" at us during tempo changes.
As creative as kids can be, all the 'tard epithets I heard flying around the rest of my childhood seemed limp compared to the horror of Catholic elementary school choir.
As creative as kids can be, all the 'tard epithets I heard flying around the rest of my childhood seemed limp compared to the horror of Catholic elementary school choir.
9
I'm thinking that "retard" is actually an exception to the "ard" insults. In the other cases (drunkard, and my new favorite, commentard) the ard is added onto the root to make it mean "bad person who [is drunk, comments, etc]", but I think in "retard" the key root is actually the second part of the word, tard, as in "late", so someone whose mental development is behind their calendar age. I think the actual insult should be "you retardard!"
10
@ 9. Etymologically speaking, I think you're right. But part of the reason "retard" sounds so bad to us is because it resembles all of these other words that are insults. So while it comes to us from a different etymological path, our ears hear "tard" or "ard" as an insult, whether or not one is intended.
That's setting aside what "retard" actually means, of course, which is a massive part of the way we see the word culturally. But the fact that it shares a sound with so many insult-category words is not, I think, insignificant.
That's setting aside what "retard" actually means, of course, which is a massive part of the way we see the word culturally. But the fact that it shares a sound with so many insult-category words is not, I think, insignificant.
11
@10, I think you're putting the cart before the horse. The adjective "retarded" was a common word long before the noun "retard" was, initially as a description of a mentally-disabled person, whose mental development is retarded, i.e., slowed. "Retard" as a pejorative came later, after "retarded" started to be used as a casual insult (meaning "dumbass") instead of a technical term.
The sound analogy, maybe, maybe not. They're not pronounced the same; "drunkard", "coward", "bastard" etc. are all pronounced "-ərd", not "-ard" as in "retard".
The sound analogy, maybe, maybe not. They're not pronounced the same; "drunkard", "coward", "bastard" etc. are all pronounced "-ərd", not "-ard" as in "retard".
13
To the fnarfard @11: I think that that brendard @11 was suggesting with his double negative is that in the evolution of a living language, horses and carts can be hard to distinguish.
16
@1, if I'm not mistaken Mr. B. pronounces his Frenchy name to rhyme with "gaydar", not "petard" or "retard".
17
what about the aardvarks? how do they fit in? is anyone thinking of the aardvarks???????????????????????
19
Thanks Mr. Kiley, for not slandering my ancestor, Jules Leotard, as Dan "let's invade Iraq" Savage has done repeatedly --- obviously, at least one member of The Stranger staff has some class....
Without that "magnificent man on his flying trapeze" creating the "leotard" we would miss viewing all those wonderful ladies today wearing theirs!
Viva le leotard!
Without that "magnificent man on his flying trapeze" creating the "leotard" we would miss viewing all those wonderful ladies today wearing theirs!
Viva le leotard!
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