I wish we had a magic button to zap the power out of a word. Any loaded word people use as war in conversation - can you imagine? It'd be like a button to eliminate an entire type of weapon in a battlefield. Can you imagine people talking civilly, without shooting things?
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It's not the words. It's the sentiment. In the 80s they stopped using the word retarded and substituted the word special. So all us kids started using special as an insult.
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well, pretty quickly people would start shooting other things. conflict is unavoidable.
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Over using a word, particularly in cases where it doesn't really apply, had that effect, just not instantly. Civility is overrated when it comes at the cost of honesty.
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Even beyond a battle, some words were adopted long ago & deviate from their original meaning. My biggest one is "cynical."
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I'm sure genetic engineering will one day progress to the point where we'll be able to safely edit language capability out of ourselves. Your dream might yet come true!