Exploded is a loaded term that has been ruined by media to make it so that people interpret even development testing as a failure.
RUD conveys the same idea of the vehicle losing structural integrity, serves as a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor for those who understand it, and limits the number of idiots screaming "look this project is obviously a scam" slightly.
Same energy as sqlite using etilqs as their file extension for no reason other than to mildly amuse onlookers who "know" and to deter the uninitiated from sending them unearned complaints.
Actually there is a reason for that, as described in this source code comment[0]
** 2006-10-31: The default prefix used to be "sqlite_". But then
** Mcafee started using SQLite in their anti-virus product and it
** started putting files with the "sqlite" name in the c:/temp folder.
** This annoyed many windows users. Those users would then do a
** Google search for "sqlite", find the telephone numbers of the
** developers and call to wake them up at night and complain.
** For this reason, the default name prefix is changed to be "sqlite"
** spelled backwards. So the temp files are still identified, but
** anybody smart enough to figure out the code is also likely smart
** enough to know that calling the developer will not help get rid
** of the file.
in 10 years RUD will mean exploded, that's how language works.
retarded used to be a medical term to replace loaded terms such as imbecile. You can see how successful that was.
It turns out, dressing up an idea does absolutely nothing since it's the idea that has the negative connotation. And why shouldn't "exploded" be viewed in a negative light?
This process is called pejoration (sometimes pejorativization).
It is a fascinating linguistic phenomenon, but it makes sense if you think about it. People start using technical terms as a pejorative, so those technical terms over time become less professional, so professions introduce new terms, and the cycle continues.
Another fascinating thing is that pejoration can be cyclic, sometimes enough terms are introduced to replace a term that eventually the original pejorative term becomes innocuous or even becomes endearing.
"Dickens" went through a pejoration cycle when it was used to replace the word "devil." There was a time when saying "what the Dickens" would be quite rude, but now would be seen as old fashioned to the point of being charming in some circles.
The difference is between viewing exploded as simply something going wrong and viewing it as an indication of general failure.
A starship prototype exploding in a flight right now is completely different from a Falcon 9 exploding in a flight. With the former it's almost desirable by making points of improvement obvious, with the latter it's a potential capacity crisis for the US launch industry.
Yet that's not really how most journalists will report it, and also isn't how most people who don't actively keep up with developments will interpret it.
Also, as you say, retarded replaced imbecile, and since then retarded has also been replaced, same will happen with RUD. Not really a big deal since they'll just change their language usage too.
The rocket exploded because it was instructed to explode. In fact, one of the problems was that it didn’t explode on time: the flight-termination system did not destroy the vehicle immediately.
Many rocket failures, especially those are high altitude, do not explode in a classical sense. The correct term would be that they failed; RUD seems more fun.
I don't think RUD suggests self-destruction. It even suggests the opposite, because having a self-destruction system involved means the explosion wasn't entirely "unscheduled". Indeed, SpaceX describes the lower stage explosion, which wasn't caused by the flight termination system, as a "RUD", but not the upper stage explosion, which was caused by the flight termination system.
