Read on Twitter
Now to start with there doesn& #39;t seem to be that much of a difference. The two words are synonyms and even have similar (though unrelated) origins. Insult comes from Latin meaning jump or bring down. Slur comes from a middle English word for mud, as in drag through the mud.
But words have both denotative and connotative meanings. Denotatively slur and insult are arguably the same, or very close, but connotatively they are different.
You might think of the denotative meaning of a word as its dictionary definition, and the connotative meaning as the emotional context associated with it. We& #39;re going to come back to denotation and connotation in a sec.
So by some denotative definitions "slur" and "insult" are the same, but the connotative meanings are different. A slur is worse than an insult.
The way I& #39;ve seen many people accounting for this is to say that a slur applies to a group, and that& #39;s the bad part.
The way I& #39;ve seen many people accounting for this is to say that a slur applies to a group, and that& #39;s the bad part.
But "doofuses" are a group if you put them all together. Any mild insult can apply to a group.
So maybe a slur means it applies to a group for characteristics out of their control?
But no, because again, being uncool isn& #39;t really in your control, is it?
So maybe a slur means it applies to a group for characteristics out of their control?
But no, because again, being uncool isn& #39;t really in your control, is it?
A slur applies to a group or member of a group based on race, gender, sex, sexuality, class, ability, ethnicity, nationality, etc etc etc.
But why those things?
Because they don& #39;t deserve to be attacked? That doesn& #39;t really make sense.
But why those things?
Because they don& #39;t deserve to be attacked? That doesn& #39;t really make sense.
The answer isn& #39;t a mystery, it& #39;s very simple. Something becomes a slur when it& #39;s addressed to a systemically or historically disempowered group or a member of that group.
So it& #39;s not a slur to call a white person whitey because white people have historic and systemic power.
So it& #39;s not a slur to call a white person whitey because white people have historic and systemic power.
It can be an insult though.
