• FuglyDuck
    link
    English
    207 months ago

    Historically fool was also used for people with metal disabilities. Same as idiot, dolt, simpleton, dumb, and virtually every other word we have for “crazy” and “stupid”

    Besides which, crazy people aren’t necessarily stupid people, so fool wouldn’t work for that.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -227 months ago

      Ableist use of the world fool is so rare I’ve never heard of it before today. The usage referring to the job fool is much more common, and thus the word is much less offensive than ps*cho. If we’re trying to avoid harm, we should choose the least offensive word, right? Or just not use that kind of word at all.