• ryannathans@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    147
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    5 months ago

    To be fair retarded means slowed or delayed so how many times was anon retarded in getting to work?

    • JustARegularNerd@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      5 months ago

      I never actually understood why retarded was used by mechanics when a car wasn’t running right “The timing on this is a bit retarded” but now I know. Thank you

      • HackerJoe@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        5 months ago

        surprisingly the opposite is advanced timing, protarded isn’t a word.
        There is retrograde <> prograde but only Kerbal players know what it means ;)

        • nefonous@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          5 months ago

          Not really surprising. That last part “tard” comes from the Latin tardus which basically means slow or late. The “re” particle originally just had a meaning of repetition, in this case. So being late (not for the first time? ) So changing the first part of the word wouldn’t change the meaning of it so easily. Maybe technically something like “intard” could make sense in that way (similarly as what you find in words like indomitable, impossible, ineffective etc), but it doesn’t really exist. Or if we want to make it more meme-like, tarden’t?

          Protarded actually exists as a slang with completely different meaning, but that’s out of scope

          Overall useless information for most, but anyway

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        There’s also a thing called a retarder built into lorries and other heavy vehicles so they don’t melt their brake pads, think engine breaking as the basic version, add special engineering sauce and you get something that is good at slowing stuff down without burning up, but not good at all at arresting it in place. The term is also used with railroads but those are actual breaks. Similar to the ones you see on roller-coasters.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      5 months ago

      I was just on a trip to France with my brother who doesn’t speak French. He was quite amused by all the signs that said retard, like when a train was running late. I speak French so it was utterly normal for me