Usually terms like that become problematic when they are used to erase someone's individuality. They are an addict or a cripple, as opposed to someone having addiction or being crippled. Of course, it's very useful to be able to speak about people in aggregate, so someone being intellectually retarded transforms into retarded people in aggregate and then becomes a retard as a slur.
We should be able to look at how we are using language and identify that it is problematic without requiring a list of words.
>We should be able to look at how we are using language and identify that it is problematic without requiring a list of words.
Yup! I think that humans are so heterogeneous that basically everything requires a context to derive the full meaning of a thing. The same language, wielded in two different occasions, can have vastly different meanings.
As a linguistics professor once mentioned:
"Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like an apple, although if the play is bad enough, even fruit flies like an arrow."
People can be multiple things though. I am a programmer, I am a nerd, I am a drinker, I am a partner, I am a music fan. None of these negate each other.
We should be able to look at how we are using language and identify that it is problematic without requiring a list of words.