General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: On the evolution of language and the "W" word [View all]nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)there is a clear age difference. Older folk in the community hate the use of the world, because they think it internalizes and all that. When you talk to the kids, and we have, it is reapropriating the term. In effect making it a term used within the community as a term of pride. I would not even think of using the word, unless we were doing an interview with a local rapper and ask about the use of that word.
There is another magical word, starts with an S, where this is just at the beginning stages. See, at DU I self censor to the point of not spelling the word out. Suffice it to say if you do a general search for the S word and linguistics you might find it.
I suspect this will accelerate with many bad words
Also with the etymology of the W word, it is one of the oldest in Indo European languages. Some of the contexts are very good indeed. Just a note, but a word that has been around for 15000 years is not all bad. It is up there in age with no.