A word by itself can have a deragatory conotation. But it only becomes an insult when used as an insult. The n word is both deragatory and vulgar. The word fool, by contrast is detagatory but not vulgar. One might say “a fool and his money are soon parted” which would not be offensive as either insulting or vulgar (unless the speaker was alluding to a particular person who just lost money). But obviously the word fool can and often is used as an insult. But we never call it the f-word...not only because there is already an f-word, but also because, unlike the n-word, it is not shocking to polite sensibilties. But in some society neither the n-word nor f-word seem shocking...standards of vulgarity being audience dependent.
...standards of vulgarity being audience dependent.
True. And those standards are dropping like flies every day.
(sigh)