Reply #71: Umm... that's actually my point

[cgrindley]

No one really "owns" a word and it will have a life of its own. Do you think, for example, that the recent ban in NYC of the N-word is going to stop 15 year old Black kids from using it at each other on the subway in the morning when I'm on my way to work? I highly doubt it. I don't think that they mean the N-word in the same sense that it was used against African Americans in the past, and I doubt very much that any city council bill is going to change their lexicon. No one today "owns" language. It will do whatever the majority of people want it to do.

You have to understand that the one meaning is not being "equated" with the other, but is parallel with it. They are two different lexical items inhabiting the same set of letters. Personally, I don't think that the process can be stopped. Just like current use of the N-word among young African Americas, I think it's something you're going to have to live with.