• lime!@feddit.nu
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    1 day ago

    can you really call it a euphemism when it just used to be a medical term back then?

    • Ogmios@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      Pro tip: It still is a medical term. Internet activists deciding they don’t like a word doesn’t actually change the word.

      • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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        16 hours ago

        It’s not only the ‘SJW’ crowd who are asking people to stop using it, but also the medical field, patients, and their caregivers directly asking everyone to stop.

        The results of both the parent and professional surveys support a move away from the use of the term mental retardation. The majority of parents indicated that they would be upset if a physician used the term mental retardation.

        • infinite_ass@leminal.space
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          33 minutes ago

          Probably under pressure from the SJWs. Medical people are practically minded, not given to rewriting the nomenclature to suit the fashion of the hour (they still use Latin for God’s sake). Unless the money is threatened of course.

        • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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          22 hours ago

          Right, the euphemism treadmill works on medical terminology same as common speech. The medical terms used to be ‘moron’, ‘idiot’, and ‘cripple’.

          Goes medical term-> common language -> insult -> forbidden

          • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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            21 hours ago

            I mean it’s not like the crown will cut your tongue out for saying the word. You can still say it, and people decide if it is taboo or not, and dis/approve accordingly.

            But much like we don’t use “negroe” despite that having been the word in common use, we’ve recognized the pain it causes that group because of the way language gets weaponized to ‘other’ people.

      • lime!@feddit.nu
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        23 hours ago

        that’s not how that works. “idiot”, “lunatic” and “hysterical” were once medical terms. they are no longer used as such.