Editing Dysphemism (section)

=== Move from euphemism to dysphemism ===

The process of [[pejoration]] leads to words that were once considered euphemisms to now be considered dysphemisms. In [[American culture]], words like "colored" were once considered euphemisms,<ref name="Obscenity Symbol">{{cite journal|last=Read|first=Allan|title=An Obscenity Symbol|journal=American Speech|year=1934|volume=9|issue=4|pages=264–278|doi=10.2307/452191|jstor=452191}}</ref> but have since been replaced by terms like "Black" and "African American". Sometimes slight modifications of dysphemisms can make them acceptable: while "colored people" is considered dysphemistic, "people of color" does not carry the same connotations. The words "[[idiot]]" and "[[moron (psychology)|moron]]" were once polite terms to refer to people with mental disabilities,<ref name="Mismeasure of Man">{{cite book|last=Gould|first=Stephen Jay|title=The mismeasure of man|url=https://archive.org/details/mismeasureofman00goul_1|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Norton|location=New York|isbn=0-393-03972-2|edition=Rev. and expanded}}</ref> but they are now rarely used without dysphemism. Likewise, the word "retarded" was introduced as a new polite form once the previous terms became dysphemistic; since then, "retarded" has itself become dysphemistic.<ref>{{cite journal|last=O'Neill|first=Ben|date=Fall 2011|title=A Critique of Politically Correct Language|journal=The Independent Review|volume=16|issue=2|pages=279–291|jstor=24563157}}</ref> Often a word with both euphemistic and dysphemistic uses becomes restricted to the dysphemistic use alone. The term "[[euphemism treadmill]]",<ref name="The Blank Slate">{{cite book|last=Pinker|first=Steven|title=The blank slate: the modern denial of human nature|year=2002|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|isbn=978-0-14-200334-3}}</ref> coined by [[Steven Pinker]], describes this process, in which terms with an emotionally charged referent that were once euphemisms become dysphemistic by association with the referent.