• ryan@the.coolest.zone
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    1 year ago

    You’ve brought up a real interesting and nuanced point, which is “what’s the difference between an insult and a slur, and when does one become the other?” And a lot of it’s just down to “whether the target of said insult/slur feels it’s so offensive as to actually cause harm or be a predictor of causing harm,” I think.

    In the cases you’ve pointed out, redacted is still very much a slur, whereas “queer” definitely used to be and is now going through a sort of reclamation phase, so whether someone considers it a slur or not really kind of depends on their own history with it. “Queer” is definitely a word with an actively evolving meaning and legacy*, I think, and since we’re in the middle of it I’m not sure whether it will end up fully reclaimed or the pendulum will swing the other way eventually.

    *all words are actively evolving like this but it’s much quicker with insults and slurs because of the emotion involved

    Anyway, back to the subject of Drath’nor the Anus Destroyer.