The ‘S’ Word?!
C’mon now people. Context is relevant. Intentions matter.
And on the practical side, when the politically correct take over the world, who will maintain the list of verboten words if they can’t write them down and disseminate their collection? Are we going to need an ancient monkish order to pass down (without speak and writing – maybe signing or some form of telepathy) the words and point them out to writers and editors who might be considering their public use. I suppose we’ll have to go with the telepaths to avoid offending intermediaries, be proactive, and prevent the words from being written in the first place.
Words can hurt. Used properly or improperly, depending on the context, words can destroy. I’ll even invoke the ‘mightier-than-a-sword’ cliche. But sometimes you just have to suck it up, dust yourself off, and get on with life.
So after reading this BBC article I found over atHowling Point, I gotta say I really never gave much throught to the etymology of such a word as “spaz”. According to the article “Golfer Tiger Woods has been criticised for saying he played like ‘a spaz’. Can using the word ever be right?”.