Re: Newbie Alert
To me it’s all about context. Whether, implied or put in a sentence or an “instance”. How else would you know what the author meant? Further there is so much colloquialism, that one word or phrase may mean a whole different thing.
Frankly, I never take offense of “hot button” words unless I consider the source and context. In this case it doesn’t bother me at all. I have a few websites with words like “homo” & “queer”. I mean even “gay” can be used in a pejorative context.
Even the “n-word” has been reclaimed from it’s pejorative context. My husband grew-up in a community with a large population of African Americans.
They were the “whiteys” & black kids were the “nggers". In no way it was consider pejorative. And they all called each other that. In fact I can tell you a good story of how he ran into one of his old school chums in later years at a work place and greeted him with hey "ngger”!