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LasciviousApemantus t1_j0b1plg wrote

Yeah theres a lot of stuff that falls into the "euphemistic cycle" where words develop a negative association and are replaced by euphemisms that in turn develop a negative association and are replaced by further euphemisms through a linguistic process called pejoration.

Its Karen's Maxim: All words are doomed to become offensive given enough exposure to time, resentment and sheer boredom.

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88leo t1_j0f78uh wrote

He said N*** Jim to make sure people knew he was referring to a black man, not to be insulting in a sarcastic way, and when you look at it that way he actually may have moved the meaning of the word from a commonly used neutral word to a negative.

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