I must admit I’m fond of some of the racial epithets and homophobic comments, used to call a gay bloke I worked for the same company as “me old poofter” (though not it should be said in the office). Went out drinking with him on more than one occasion.

I think it’s the absurdism I love, that somehow your skin colour or what you as a consenting adult get up to with another consenting adult should in anyway matter.

I think making certain words forbidden makes them strangely more enticing. And ironically it gives them more power

But equally I do understand why the language was clearly meant to be derogatory and demeaning so I’d never direct the words to someone unless we knew each other well enough to know that I meant no harm by it. I don’t think words are objectively harmful, but they obviously do create associations in the minds of people who have been slurred and made to feel inferior by others

Maybe, as a child of the 90s I think we had it best where such words weren’t outright forbidden, but we allowed people who liked to use them liberally to expose themselves