Thread by @blue_bec, This article starts so promisingly and then falls over and rolls in [...]

blue_bec

This article starts so promisingly and then falls over and rolls in bullshit https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/troubling-origin-of-common-slang-words-think-twice/12268132

From Stan to Karen: The troubling origins of slang words you probably use all the time

Miriam Margolyes is not the only one in the dark about the offensive origins of popular slang words. Here are some common culprits you should think twice about using, writes Gary Nunn.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/troubling-origin-of-common-slang-words-think-twice/12268132

There are so many slang words that Gary could have argued to take out of common parlance a whole lot of ableist ones for starters.
Munter - without showing his research, Gary claims that the English word comes from an Afrikaans slur. It might, but wiktionary doesn't have any info

Pidgin English - no complaints there. We shouldn't make fun of people learning new languages and English is hard.
Stan - I had no idea where this came from myself, and am too old to know how to use it properly
Woke - hard agree on the appropriation of AAVE

Which brings us to queer... and this thread says it all, so I'm not going to repeat it. Use queer carefully. It's an ok umbrella term but some people still struggle with it. Also, queer is not a fucking slang word anymore Gary https://twitter.com/dynamicsymmetry/status/1264331209167044609

https://twitter.com/dynamicsymmetry/status/1264331209167044609

You can follow @blue_bec.

Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: