407: (Mentally) Challenged Jan 19, 2015

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Challenged means in a broad sense 'opposed or rivaled by something', but with a preceding adverb (e.g. mentally challenged) it spins terms 'disabled' and 'handicapped'. This began in the 1980's in the United States to try and remove certain stigma's. People soon mocked the euphemistic usage of 'challenged', and used the word ironically with the intent to jest, such as 'vertically challenged' meaning 'short'.

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