Post photo: police cordon | © Pixabay
Sometimes it would be much easier if some people didn't put everything and everyone on the gold scales right away, and maybe even take an example from one or the other dialect. "Grass dachshund" or worse is a compliment in some places, and in some subcultures it's even proud to be a nigger or a kanake.
And even with traditional words, which most likely in the near future - with the ever faster progressing impoverishment of language and words - no one will use or know anyone anymore, should not immediately investigate the public prosecutor's office when they are used; For example, with words like Mohrenkopf, Neger — which, by the way, only means black (Latin: nigro, nigrans) — or even the West Franconian “Judenfürzle” — which, by the way, in my youth was still the term for small fireworks that were in great demand — you should not only look at what time and context they come from, but also pay close attention to what the speaker actually wants to say.
Especially since today we live in a cultural and linguistic diversity like hardly ever before. And even between people from the same culture and the same mother tongue, the problem always arises as to what the speaker actually thinks, means and says, and the listener then hears this message and ultimately believes he understands it.
In addition, we are living more and more in a time in which everyone thinks they mean what the other person thinks before they have even said anything, and sometimes already assumes things that do not stand up to closer examination. This increasingly popular chauvinism of language and thought, which is reinforced by its own euphemisms, genderism and Newspeak, is driving our society deeper and deeper into a totalitarian whirlpool, just like it George Orwell had already predicted in 1949.
Language is constantly evolving, and this is just through the communication between people. Therefore, one should avoid trying to influence this development with one's own language ideology or with the help of a language police and judiciary.
If you really want to make an impact on language, it's by writing books that people love to read, or by speaking in a way that draws listeners in.
Moral firing squads have only ever made the world worse so far, so we better steer clear and relax the next time we think a fellow citizen is linguistically off the mark. Also, we don't have to listen to it or take it seriously at all.
And if you feel offended yourself, you can always take legal action.
"Talk can be cheap, very cheap. It can also be costly. "Speak out!" we say “Why are you afraid to speak out?” we say In dictatorships, it can be very, very hard to speak out. Many people have been imprisoned or worse for talking. But even in democratic societies, talk can be hard. It can be hard not only in politics but also in high schools and families and churches and professional communities and other arenas.”
Jay Nordlinger, Some talk about talk (September 4, 2018)
