"take offense to"; the "R-word"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Formerly a well-meaning euphemism.

JL



On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 7:28 PM, Ann Burlingham <ann at burlinghambooks.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ann Burlingham <ann at BURLINGHAMBOOKS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "take offense to"; the "R-word"
>
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>
> On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 5:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "take offense to"; the "R-word"
> >
> >
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> >
> > Wait, wait! It gets better:
> >
> > "The controversy over the 'R-word' comes just as the Special Olympics is
> > gearing up for its second annual 'Spread The Word to End the Word'
> > campaign.They have set up a website,
> > www.r-word.org<
> >
> http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1114/35006948/SIG=11qibid1p/*http://www.andrewgolis.com/ynews/wp-admin/www.r-word.org
> > >,
> > where people can pledge not to use the word anymore. According to a
> > spokesperson, they're hoping to obtain at least 100,000 pledges to
> 'change
> > the conversation,' and as of this writing, they've collected over 55,000
> > pledges, including Rahm Emanuel's."
> >
> >
> It has boggled me for years that otherwise-thoughtful people would use that
> word.
>
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>



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