system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why has the politically correct term for black people changed so many times in the last ~50 years?
gpt
Its called the "euphemism treadmill" and it isnt exclusive to racial or ethnic groups. It also applies to the mentally and physically disabled and people with psychiatric disorders. Basically a word like "retard" was once considered an unoffensive medical term. Then people start using it not as a medical term but as an insult. Once this goes on for a while people need to come up with a new politically correct term to make it clear when no offense is intended. Then eventually that new word becomes widespread and people begin to use it as an insult also, thus necessitating a new unoffensive term.