What Really Happens When You Use the R-Word

[Au165]

My only issue is the word by definition, even when used properly, is meant to be a negative. The author can pretend that it has inaccurately been assigned a negative connotation by society in terms of it's use as a noun, which I can understand to an extent, but the word literally has a meaning that something is inferior or is hindering progress as a verb. If the attempt when someone say's "that is ********" is to say that is bad, one can argue that saying something is delaying progress or impeding accomplishment (I.E. "bad") would be true. It would be similar to saying something is stupid, however the only difference is that ****** has a noun form referencing a specific group that people don't want to attach the negative connotation to that is spelled out by the definition of the word in verb form.

I understand people don't like being called names, but I think people need to realize that words mean different things to different people. The reality is words evolve over time and ****** has evolved into a synonym for stupid. The funny thing is stupid doesn't even mean stupid as in lacking intelligence most the time, but rather simply bad. I get why people would not want to be associated with bad, but most people simply refer to mentally handicapped people as just that not retards.

Which brings me to my main thought, If most people don't believe a word means what it means does it really mean that anymore?