It was offensive even way before that. I remember us not serving a customer at the fast food place where I worked because he used it around my co-worker whose brother had Downs Syndrome.

I've never really associated with people who use that word.

Lemmy seems to be pretty good about not using it, though. Reddit, on the other hand...

Edit: After reading this thread, I take it back. There are some straight up disgusting people in this community who really, really want to use the r-slur.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

it absolutely was offensive way before that. from my understanding 2009 was the year there was a unified push to change things across the language though :)

also wow reddit was worse? i won’t lie i never saw it there in the past decade but perhaps i was browsing more wholesome subs than some

but yeah on lemmy it’s not an exaggeration to say i come across it (used as a slur, not in an aviation sense, children 🙄) almost hourly. in another thread i am getting dogpiled with downvotes for asking politely not to use it in a derogatory way.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Every time I've reported it on lemmy, I've seen it removed by mods, but I guess there are a lot of communities here I just don't visit.

Reddit had a very popular sub with the r-slur in its name, and I saw it a lot on CTH (don't ask me why I ever visited that sub -- I ask myself, and I have no answer lol).

And yeah, Rosa's Law was 2010, but even dating back to the 70s people were abandoning its use. I recall my brother having to write an essay about people with disabilities when he used it in school in the 90s (not that I approve of using writing as a punishment).

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

it does get left up by certain mods here 😭 part of the reason for posting this

in my individual non authoritative opinion OKBR gets grandfathered the pass ~~but only because it’s used in a purely non offensive context~~ nope it’s offensive, you are right. i think it gets grandfathered in because it has important memetic/cultural meaning. but it’s still obviously highly offensive and so should be treated with delicacy and respect.

hereabouts though i’ll see like, a thread argument about cross stitching and boom, r-slur used as a derogatory. like come on kids this isn’t kindergarten lmao.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

in my individual non authoritative opinion OKBR gets grandfathered the pass but only because it’s used in a purely non offensive context

Hard disagree here. It's the very definition of it being used offensively.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 4 points 5 months ago

You have a right to that, I probably need to do some self examination there.

[–] Malgas 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, my mom used to work for an organization called ARC, which pointedly hasn't been an acronym since the early '90s.

[–] idiomaddict@feddit.de 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

And NAACP is still around, even with a name that was offensive 40 years ago, because a) it’s clearly not intended to offend; and b) the name recognition is incredibly helpful: I hear NAACP, I think W.E.B. DuBois and Thurgood Marshall.