• Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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      21 hours ago

      They’re not saying that Rowling co-opted anything. They’re saying that they used to use the term “muggle”, lifted from the HP books, as their go-to term for “non-magical people”, until Rowling went full mask-off TERF.

      Which does mean that they lifted a term that is literally used in the books as a slur, and were like “OK, yeah, this is a good way to describe people who don’t share my interests.”

      • glimse@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Ahh ok,. I remembered muggle was a slur in HP (Hermione cries because [mean blond kid] calls her a mug blood) and assumed they couldn’t be talking about that.

        I made this assumption because I have this user tagged as “Narcissist is a slur.” And I remember why.

        So my understanding is that it’s a good thing to use a fictional slur when the only definition for the word. But also, it’s a very bad thing to use a word based on a character from a Greek myth who exists solely to convey the idea described in the definition.

        • Grail@multiverse.soulism.net
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          17 hours ago

          Narcissus of Greek myth never abused anyone, unless you count fighting back against Ameinias, who sexually harassed him. While he was 16.

          • glimse@lemmy.world
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            16 hours ago

            This implies that non-wizards were the abusers in Harry Potter and I don’t remember that being true.

            Narcissus is a fictional character who was written exclusively to convey the idea that is described in the definition of the word based on his name*

            Muggle is a fictional slur used by the ruling class in Harry Potter to denigrate people they don’t respect. It exists to be offensive.

            I think it’s worth a bit of self reflection as to why you’ve embraced a word that was always a slur to use as a slur but get offended by the word “narcissist” to the point of ranting about it (in a past thread, not here).

            I don’t think either is offensive so I hope you fall on the side of “neither word is that big of a deal”

            • Grail@multiverse.soulism.net
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              16 hours ago

              Narcissus is a fictional character who was written exclusively to convey the idea that is described in the definition of the word based on his name*

              No, the word was invented in the 19th century by Lord Byron and his contemporaries. Nobody ever made a word based on Narcissus until Lord Byron. Ovid was writing about Narcissus thousands of years before then.

              • glimse@lemmy.world
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                14 hours ago

                Narcissus was written about once in the entirety of Greek mythology in a story about. A story about how self-obsession is a curse.

                Lord Byron described a personality trait where one exhibits self-obsession to the point of harm and needed a word for it. He referenced the most famous example of self-obsession.

                That is how many things get their names.