I've heard it a lot lately.

In mid-conversation, on its own, strangers using it to describe strangers, friends using it to describe friends, on purpose or accidental. The r-word is far too common.

"You were acting retarded last night." "I'm such a retard." "Quit being a retard."—It's not the word I have a problem with, it's the slang definition that I'm not okay with.

Many already know what the word means and some don't. But for even those who claim they already know what the word means, do you really? Do you know what you're actually saying when you use it? Do you hear how illogical, rude and wrong you sound? Maybe, maybe not. That's part of the problem.

It isn't just teens using the word, its all ages. We must educate everyone, so lets start here. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word retard is defined as slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress.

Now you know what the word really means. You understand the word isn't an act that people choose to be. So why would you say it to someone you know, or don't know at all? What pleasure do you get when you use the r-word? Do people laugh? Maybe, but those who do are probably the ones who don't know what it means.

I'm not saying that every time the word vomits from your mouth, it has intentions. I'm not saying that anyone who has ever used the word instead of saying foolish, irrational, absurd, etc. is a horrible human. I'm not saying that I have never used the word myself with slang. What I am trying to say is that we need to spread the word, to end the word.

Language is constantly changing and there is always a new "it" word. If we are intelligent, sophisticated humans who can adapt to the newest lingo, then we certainly are intelligent, sophisticated humans who can adapt to discard lingo.

We blurt out word in the spur of the moment, without thinking. We all do. Perhaps this is also part of the problem. As human beings, we all have the role to not hurt, offend or insult others for pure enjoyment. However, when the r-word is used, it is not hurting the one you are talking to, it is hurting someone who has been medically declared retarded.

It is hurting your peer in your class who has slower academic progress but heard you scream the word across the classroom. It is hurting the stranger who heard it walking on the sidewalk because their relative or friend may be slow. It is not hurting you, but it's hurting others.

There are so many other words that you may have meant but didn't say. Uncool, childish, weird, bizarre, uncommon, or literally any other word in the dictionary that isn't the r-word.

It's time to educate ourselves and take notice of how our words affect the world around us. It's time to be the intelligent, sophisticated human beings we are and stop using the r-word as a derogatory, demeaning insult because we didn't think before we spoke. Together, lets spread the word to end the word.