Quailtard is a word combining "Quail," a mid-sized game bird of the pheasant family, and "tard," a contraction of the noun "retard," an often offensive word used to describe the
mentally challenged, or retarded. First used on
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The word was used in humorous reference to the farm-raised quail released for hunting by Vice President, Dick Cheney, and others on Katharine Armstrong's south Texas ranch. On February 11, 2006, while hunting these quail, Cheney
accidentally shot hunting companion, Harry M. Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, TX, with his 28 gauge shotgun from a reported distance of thirty yards.
Among the many aspects of the story that became fodder for late night television comedians, were the quail themselves, and the whole idea of such staged hunting.
"Look, the mere fact that we're even talking about how the vice
president drives up with his rich friends in cars to shoot farm-raised wingless quailtards is letting the quail know 'how' we're hunting them."
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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Monday,
February 13, 2006
