this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
220 points (98.2% liked)
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
643 readers
237 users here now
Posts and discussion about the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Hugo Award-winning author Zach Weinersmith (and related works)
https://www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersmith
New comics posted whenever they get posted on the site, and old comics posted every day until we catch up in a decade or so
founded 6 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That's an example of a different scenario, where a single term changes in meaning. In the case for "man", a separate term evolved. "Man" never stopped having the meaning of "humans as a whole". Instead, it evolved a different meaning in certain contexts. "Man" also isn't used as a slur, which makes using the word you chose as an example not equivalent.
There's just no need to push "man" in these kinds of context into being gendered when it's not. Choosing to use another term is great, but it's not great to impose onto others.
So words evolve unless they become slurs.
Edit: Yea just terminate thought and downvote, very productive discussion. "Words change meaning unless we decide to ignore the new meaning of the word."
Im honestly just trying to have a conversation about this, because me and all my friends are progressive people, and none of us see the 'r' word as badly as it is perceived online. But whatever its cool, the slur treadmill continues, see you in 50 years when idiot becomes the "i" slur.