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Words evolve. Their meanings shift. But, it's very important to be mindful of words that were originally or historically used in very offensive ways. Here's a list of words with hurtful histories that may have you thinking twice about your word choice
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HYSTERICAL
In everyday language, hysterical means "uncontrollably emotional."
But guess who usually gets slapped with that label? Women. What's more, hysterical comes from the Greek word for "womb."
In this light, hysterical is no laughing matter.
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BUGGER
Bugger seems perfectly harmless, right? Wrong.
While many use it informally as an insult (like "jerk") or to refer to any ole doodad, bugger has also been used as a more offensive vulgar term for "sodomy."
Bugger ultimately comes from the Medieval Latin Bulgarus, literally "Bulgarian." Back in the Middle Ages, the Balkans (the peninsula where Bulgaria is located) were associated with heretical sects, such as a group known as the Bogomils, who were alleged to engage in deviant sexual practices.
That makes the history of bugger both xenophobic and homophobic. Keep context in mind when using this word, else you might be told to bugger off.
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FUZZY-WUZZY
Fuzzy-wuzzy was a bear? No.
Fuzzy-wuzzy was a racist term for Black people (as from Africa, Australia, or Papua New Guinea), stereotyped for their hair texture.
Today, fuzzy-wuzzy is used as cutesy talk, and meant innocently as a kind of a baby-talk reduplication. But keep in mind that fuzzy-wuzzy, especially used as a noun and not adjective, has a painful, racist past.
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PEANUT GALLERY
Dating back to the late 1800s, peanut gallery refers "the rearmost and cheapest section of seats in the balcony or the uppermost balcony of a theater." It apparently takes its name from the people who sat there eating peanuts. These people, who were often poorer or Black, became stereotyped as rowdy, giving peanut gallery both classist and racist undertones.
Since the 1800s, peanut gallery has spread as a slang term meaning "source of insignificant criticism."