this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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hi, so i recently discovered im more left wing (democratic) than right wing (republican), but im still not the most politically correct. earlier today we were discussing abortion and i said i felt bad for the women who the anti abortion people affect, but my friend corrected me and said i meant "people who get pregnant", because men (like trans men but still men) can get pregnant. and not all women get pregnant so it doesnt affect them. she said it gently but i feel like an ass</3

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[โ€“] Zeusz13@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

In my oppinion it's not the words that are the problem but the intent behind. You can say any phrase hurtfully if you want to. Especially in everyday speach you are also trying to speak with less and easily understandable words. It's not a scientidfic paper, you don't say Felis silvestris catus, you say cat.

So nta.

[โ€“] Archr@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

This. Words are descriptive not prescriptive.

As long as the person understood what you meant,which they almost certainly did as they corrected you, then the words that you used don't really matter.

Note, this doesn't mean all words are inoffensive.