For many too, they held on because their job was fun. My neighbor was a shipping container captain… he was eligible for retirement for many years. What finally made him retire was all the rigamarole the pandemic introduced. It stopped being fun.
The same thing happened with a local family-owned Agricultural store near me that’s been around for 70-odd years. Dealing with everything in the past 2 years sucked all the joy out of running the store, so they decided to retire.
Isn't that their entire schtick? The New Zealand of generations.
The words meaning sure hadn't changed, but I imagine the longer its mainstream the more it will morph. Soon we won't be allowed to say it at all, lest we offend somebody with the slur.