My first ever cellphone was the old-school Nokia 3310. Even at the time, it was a bit outdated, but nevertheless it was at its core just like other cellphones during the early to mid 2000s- it had a screen and, most importantly for this post, buttons.
On this admitedly strange post, I'd like to introduce my international audience to a brief moment in Portuguese history where a single button was a slur against disabled people.
Back to the Nokia 3310. It was the phone to popularize SMS. Additionally, cellphones were generally affordable at the time, especially if you had the good ol' brick. Naturally, there was a rise of SMS usage among young people at the time. I remember texting my friends even though we were standing next to each other, just for the novelty.
All devices I had ever seen people use used the ITU E.161 standard (seen below). The key we'll focus on is the third one.
The third key's letters are DEF.
In Portuguese, deficiente (literally translated, deficient) means disabled, though it's often used in a derogatory way- you might know where this is going.
Tecla 3 (key 3), that is to say DEF, became a common slur against disabled people (notably mentally disabled people) spouted by kids. I remember me and other kids would text each other the number 3 to insult each other, playfully or not.
So, the third key was used as a slur. I bet you're thinking «big fucking deal», but there are some interesting aspects to it.
One thing of note is that it seems to have only been used in Portugal, despite deficiente meaning the same thing in other Portuguese-speaking countries.
Another thing is that this slur was used for an absurdly short period of time. Most people that were born after 2007 or were too young to have a cellphone back then don't even know what «tecla 3» refers to, because with the rise of smartphones the good ol' keypads became somewhat obsolete.
Additionally, every kid from the late 1990s-early 2000s is a full-grown adult by now. With the rise of disability awareness, it's only natural most of us stopped using it as an insult, or simply moved on to more relevant derogatory terms.
There is something to be said about the progress that has been made since then regarding disability acceptance. It's not that much to be honest, but at least people aren't calling each other slurs based on technology anymore.
However, I wrote about this because it's not only weird and stupid, it is also a bit of a window of fast people's language can change and how it can be influenced by our ever-changing technology.