this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Nobody contends that a "word is inherently bad"? The stance is generally that certain words have been used to propagate hate and violence on certain populations. Those populations then have real associated trauma so words are avoided in most conversations. Many are still used in actual relevant academic or regulatory context.
A knife isn't inherently bad, but you shouldn't show up to the funeral of a stabbing victims with a hunting knife in either hand to give your condolences to the family.
My phrasing may be wrong, I mean something more the line of "there are words that cannot be said without being offensive"
I would disagree. There are words that were created solely for hateful reasons. I don't think the N word existed prior to its use as a hateful slur. I'll eat crow if I'm wrong though.
I believe it comes from another language, and has a history before english adopted it.
Well fuck. Looks like you're right. Latin -> Spanish -> French and ended up as a slur in English. I guess I could have figured that out on my own knowing Spanish. I guess I just never really cared to know the origin of the word. Gotta go catch a crow now for dinner. Better than the microwave dinner I was gonna have I guess.
Haha best of luck!