when did 'special' become an insult?

[Misty Shadow 7,057]

"When people say special, it hurts my feeeeellllliiiiinnnnngggggsssss!!!" 

Fun fact. I have autism. I used to HATE when people on the internet used "autistic" as an insult. Now it doesn't bother me anymore. When they're being serious in using it as an insult for someone 'stupid', I think it makes them look stupid when there are many autistic people who are actually smarter than the average person in real life, but I don't get offended by it. It's all about how you use words, not the words themselves. Banning, or at least "banning" words doesn't stop people from being jerks and throwing insults at you. It just changes the wording of the insults they use against you. It's like how CNN called Kanye West a "negro" instead of the actual N-word. Just because it's less politically incorrect doesn't make it any less racist and appalling. 

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

We can have this discussion without petty, useless insults and diving too far into off-topic territory. Let's keep it to that before the whole thread is shut down please.

Thank you.

[DJ_Vinyl.Scratch_3 202]

Honestly, I don't think special is an insult. When I hear someone say that someone is special it's in literal terms or just a joke they all laugh about. I've never seen someone use it as an extreme, hurtful insult. 

[Crimson storm 1,825]

Well at lease “special” is better than the R word

Edited November 2, 2018 by Crimson storm

[AveryGamerDude 4,640]

I'd say about March of this year. Because trust me... I definitely don't remember seeing it at ALL last year! It may have been late last year, though. I dunno. All I know is that at the earliest, it was last year.

[Here No Longer 5,270]

"Special" became offensive when it became associated with the mentally retarded. It's in no way offensive. Heck, it's original purpose, as pointed out previously, was to be a way to describe them without offending anyone. And yes, this was actually a long time ago. I remember jokes involving special people stretching even back into elementary school, and I think I was the butt of the joke a couple of times because I still wet myself, I didn't speak to people almost at all, and I still couldn't tie my shoes. Which is funny because I was able to outpace literally everyone when it came to multiplication charts.

 

But I get the point in some cases of similar things. Especially when people use "autism" as an insult in the same context. If you didn't know, this is personal for me because I'm almost sure I have a form of autism personally. A surprisingly large amount of autistic people are above the mentally retarded line, and plenty are actually of above average intelligence (as I am). It's offensive in this case because it's a deliberate attempt to belittle people with autism, and not just a general catch-all term that's meant to be the opposite of offensive.  

[Altastrofae 933]

I've only ever heard really immature people use that as an insult to be honest.

I'd just ignore it, personally