Try using the word "cunt" in america - it still has a lot of power here.

What one can learn by doing that is that the abrupt "stop the record" noise still exists even though records aren't a thing. Like the "save" icon.

My teenagers consider "retard" to be far more offensive than either of those words.

That's interesting to me, since teenagers were really the only ones who ever used it. It's not just the subtext, since everybody says "idiot" and "moron". But I have a hard time imagining an f-bomb-throwing 50-year-old casually saying "retard" after a meeting or something like that.

“Retarded” was initially a professional term used to describe certain mental disabilities. As it entered common usage, it then transitioned to the slur that it is today. I would expect that whatever the current professional terminology is today will be considered a slur in 5-10 years.

Which is a shame. It should go the way of dumb, idiot, moron, and be wrong to apply medically but ok to say casually. As Michael Scott said, "you don't call retarded people retarded, you call your friends retarded that are acting retarded"

When the reaction to a slur is pure confusion, then you've won.

And yet, it's still censored and frowned upon in a lot of discourse.

Yes, I'm reassured every time I try to file a financial statement at work and the accountants send it back with "You can't say 'cunting dollars'."

Somewhere in Liverpool scientists are working on a breakthrough that will get us out of this mess.

"We've got it! Quit walking alone! Brilliant!"