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Hi guys, this question stems from a simple question posed on a subreddit: now that we cannot use the word fat to describe people because it is offensive, what are acceptable alternatives? If I say "Yeah my fat friend Jim and I went to the beach on Saturday, yeah... not skinny Jim", I am sure to offend someone. Big-boned is contrived and sounds wrong. Large can mean tall, so that's out. I really do mean fat Jim but I don't want to offend.
More generally, since so many words have been removed from the lexicon, what is our linguistic equivalent for other terms that now carry mild negative baggage like: short, midget, stupid or dumb (we all know someone), white (as in blinding with no skin pigment), racist (calling someone racist is offensive, even if it's true), skinny, crippled (handicapped is very nondescript, I mean someone who is physically disabled without using 6 syllables), etc
Of course, most of this is because we Americans have become hypersensitive in recent years, but there's no stopping it, so what are some good "non-euphemistic" and non-inflammatory terms as replacements.
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- 11 years ago
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