Reply #2: The evolution of words fascinates me [View All]

Look at how words like "colored" and "negro" have become taboo (even though they were once considered a more polite version of "nigger"). And how "nigger" has, in some contexts, returned to mainstream culture. Why nigger? Why is that word pulled out of the racist lexicon, while the others remain firmly locked in its pages? I kind of see a similarity in the gay community's use of the word "fag/faggot." They have taken the most vile term others use for them, and have made it part of their vocabulary; indeed, they insist it can only be part of THEIR vocabulary.

Is it a matter of consciously "fighting the power of the word?" Or just a way to subconsciously reduce the pain of being called by that term by bigots? Sometimes I wish I had gone into linguistics instead of psychology, though the two are closely related