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I find it interesting how a word's meaning can change so dramatically from person to person, depending on how they were exposed to it. Language is defined by the communal associations placed on each word, even if the dictionary's definition is completely different.
It's annoying to me how people can't see this obvious fact. We're constantly creating new euphemisms for offensive words, but they morph oh so quickly to the true cultural association(better word here?) that it signifies. Retard --> Special ---> Mentally Disabled ---> Developmentally Challenged ---> etc. On this point, however, there is a new trend for naming, "Person with ____________" I wonder if this separation of Individual and Disability is just another stopgap measure or if it will actually retard stereotypes about the disabled.
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"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim
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