Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
A slur's force is the history speakers recognize, and a tweaked spelling can still be recognized.
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A slur's force comes from a history of using a recognizable word to attack or belittle a group, a history speakers share even when they condemn it. Changing the spelling does not start that history over; if readers still know which word is meant, they still know which history is being invoked. The opening covers recognition carries the history, a masked letter is still a cue, and reclaiming is not a blank slate.
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