- coined by stephen pinker in 2003 book *the blank slate* - the cycle of introducing new terms to replace offensive or derogatory words, and those new terms becoming offensive or stigmatized themselves as they become synonymous with the original word. - see [[2024-09-27 mental health language online]] and [[2025-01-15 making money without a brand, etc and euphemism treadmill]] for instances of people replacing derogatory terms with euphemisms that ultimately still communicate the same idea.