Idiot has been historically used to mean a mentally disabled person:
> idiot: MEDICINE (archaic): a mentally handicapped person.
Google "euphemism treadmill" for more info.
> idiot: MEDICINE (archaic): a mentally handicapped person.
Google "euphemism treadmill" for more info.
[1] http://englishcowpath.blogspot.com/2011/06/euphemism-treadmi...
Just switch back to imbecile for the next 100 years? Problem solved? Clearly not, the underlying issue has nothing to do with the word but meanings that people attach to them and that is something that will not be fixed by outlawing the word as the meanings attached will shift to a new word.