It makes a negative and insensitive reference to the mentally handicapped (retardo).
The vernacular, "retardo" presumable derives from the word "retard".
re·tard2 P Pronunciation Key (rtärd)
n. Offensive Slang
- Used as a disparaging term for a mentally retarded person.
- A person considered to be foolish or socially inept.
The dictionary definition agrees that retard can be offensive. However, there are two possibilities given. The first is genuinely offensive. To disparage a person for something entirely beyond their control, is offensive.
To the individual concerned, and to the wider group of similarly afflicted people. But it seems likely, the usage in question is the second.
The person on the receiving end of the quip is being accused of acting like they were retarded, when they in fact aren't. The term is not used disparagingly of the mentally handicapped, only comparatively.
If I say you are taller than Michael Jordan, am I disparaging Michel Jordan in a height-ist slur? Or simply comparing you to a known standard?
In this case, the use of "retardo" may be offensive to the target of the quip, but so would comparing them to a mentally handicapped person. Should we be offended for that person?
The lack of vulgarity doesn't remove the offensiveness to the target person. And the comparison does denigrate the mentally handicapped. The use of a group reference in a comparison can be offensive.
Example: Saying to someone: "You're as stuck up as the English".
This can be deemed offensive as it implies that all English people are stuck up.
But saying: "You're like the English"; is not, without some further context.
In this context, saying: "You're like a mentally handicapped person"; would be tantamount to being offensive, because it categorises all mentally handicapped people as being at some, implicitly low level, which they clearly aren't.
But saying that someone is acting as if they were mentally handicapped, isn't offensive to the group, only the individual. Should we be offended for that person?
Personally, I think not. We all have our moments of acting below our ability or without proper effort with the result we do less, or achieve less than might be reasonable expected.
Is it offensive to have this pointed out to us?