My response to her is that there is no such thing as a "bad word", but there are words which will upset some people, and it's probably best to not say those words in most cases. Then I ask what word she is thinking of.
A few days ago she quietly asked me if "doofus" was one of those words. I tried to not smile as I told her that word was probably safe as long as she wasn't trying to use it to hurt someone's feelings.
The words which upset me are probably a lot different than the words which upset my Religious Right family. Words they fling around every day are deeply offensive to me- even as I avoid saying words I know they would find offensive. Even more offensive to me are some of the concepts they embrace. Words may not break bones, but bad concepts kill.
Those are worse than any word.
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