slur
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A slur is biased language that is offensive toward a person or group based on identity, such as race or ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, or class.
When reporting on slurs, some newsrooms choose to use shortened versions — such as “n-word” — or asterisk some letters. Others, if reporting on slurs, print them in full in certain contexts. The New York Times in 2015 and 2021 explained its decision to print the n-word in full, as in both cases the editors determined use of the full word was central to the story being told. The Guardian in 2014 wrote about its decision to print the n-word in full when quoting remarks from a TV host, saying that altering a direct quote, even if it contains a highly offensive word, “could play a role in attempts to sanitise or gloss over what the speaker has said.”
Some words once considered racial slurs have been reclaimed in certain contexts by the populations they were once used to disparage. Prominent use of the n-word in hip-hop and rap songs, or the 2017 Supreme Court case Lee v. Tam, involving a band’s attempt to trademark a name that the US Patent and Trademark Office deemed disparaging to Asian Americans, are examples of racial slurs being reclaimed in certain contexts.
In addition, the term “white trash,” while reclaimed by some, remains both a racialized slur that harms not only those it’s applied to but also to people of color, as it can equate so-called “white trash” with all other groups, in contrast to supposed “real” white people. It is also a class-based slur designed to dismiss certain people based on their identity and socioeconomic status.
The term “queer,” which was historically considered a slur against LGBTQ+ people, has now been widely reclaimed and has gained some mainstream acceptance as an umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people.
There is also a movement among some people in disability communities to reclaim the word “crip,” once seen as a highly offensive slur.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of either slurs that have been reclaimed by some populations or slurs that are still widely considered offensive. Given the historically offensive nature of terms such as these, caution is warranted when deciding to repeat them in full, especially outside the context of someone’s self-identification. Consider, for instance, who the speaker is and the context of the remark. If there is not a compelling reason to include the term in full, alternatives could be to include a shortened form in brackets in a direct quote, or paraphrasing. In either case, keeping the repetition to a minimum helps avoid unintentionally desensitizing audiences to the use of such terms. If someone uses a particular term to self-identify, making sure it’s clear that is their stated preference adds necessary context.
Additional resources
- Slurs and biased language (Anti-Defamation League)
- Toward a more civil discourse (Washington University in St. Louis)
- A Former Slur Is Reclaimed, And Listeners Have Mixed Feelings (NPR)
- Why Is It Still OK to ‘Trash’ Poor White People? (NPR)
- Demystifying Disability Language (Portland.gov)
- Obscenities, vulgarities and slurs (Online News Association)
Summary
A slur is biased language that is offensive toward a person or group based on identity, such as race or ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or disability, or class. Some words once considered slurs have been reclaimed in certain contexts by the populations they were once used to disparage. Still, given the historically offensive nature of terms such as these, caution is warranted when deciding to repeat them in full, especially outside the context of someone’s self-identification. Keeping repetition to a minimum helps avoid unintentionally desensitizing audiences to the use of such terms. If someone uses a particular term to self-identify, making sure it’s clear that is their stated preference adds necessary context.