# Names of things that became derogatory **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616 "2015-09-01T15:49:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/1 "2015-09-01T15:49:32Z")
Villain Knave Blackguard Pagan ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/2 "2015-09-01T15:56:53Z")
Butcher ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/3 "2015-09-01T16:42:05Z")
Boor, originally just farmer (like Dutch “Boer”). Varlet, originally just a male servant. Wench, originally just a female servant. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/4 "2015-09-01T16:58:13Z")
Cleveland? The Browns 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/5 "2015-09-01T20:15:14Z")
How about Mickey Mouse as a verb? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/6 "2015-09-01T20:21:06Z")
**Silly** , of all things: > [@](#): > > silly (adj.) Old English gesælig “happy, fortuitous, prosperous” (related to sæl “happiness”), from Proto-Germanic \*sæligas (cognates: Old Norse sæll “happy,” Old Saxon salig, Middle Dutch salich, Old High German salig, German selig “blessed, happy, blissful,” Gothic sels “good, kindhearted”), from PIE \*sele- “of good mood; to favor,” from root \*sel- (2) “happy, of good mood; to favor” (cognates: Latin solari “to comfort,” Greek hilaros “cheerful, gay, merry, joyous”). > > This is one of the few instances in which an original long e (ee) has become shortened to i. The same change occurs in breeches, and in the American pronunciation of been, with no change in spelling. [Century Dictionary] > > The word’s considerable sense development moved from “happy” to “blessed” to “pious,” to “innocent” (c. 1200), to “harmless,” to “pitiable” (late 13c.), “weak” (c. 1300), to “feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish” (1570s). Further tendency toward “stunned, dazed as by a blow” (1886) in knocked silly, etc. Silly season in journalism slang is from 1861 (August and September, when newspapers compensate for a lack of hard news by filling up with trivial stories). Silly Putty trademark claims use from July 1949. > **[silly | Etymology of silly by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/silly)** > > "happy, fortuitous, prosperous" (related to sæl "happiness"), from Proto-Germanic… See origin and meaning of silly. The opposite happened with **Nice** > [@](#): > > nice (adj.) 13c., “foolish, stupid, senseless,” from Old French nice (12c.) “careless, clumsy; weak; poor, needy; simple, stupid, silly, foolish,” from Latin nescius “ignorant, unaware,” literally “not-knowing,” from ne- “not” (see un-) + stem of scire “to know” (see science). “The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj.” [Weekley] – from “timid” (pre-1300); to “fussy, fastidious” (late 14c.); to “dainty, delicate” (c. 1400); to “precise, careful” (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to “agreeable, delightful” (1769); to “kind, thoughtful” (1830). > In many examples from the 16th and 17th centuries it is difficult to say in what particular sense the writer intended it to be taken. [OED] > By 1926, it was pronounced “too great a favorite with the ladies, who have charmed out of it all its individuality and converted it into a mere diffuser of vague and mild agreeableness.” [Fowler] > “I am sure,” cried Catherine, “I did not mean to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why should I not call it so?” > “Very true,” said Henry, “and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk; and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything.” [Jane Austen, “Northanger Abbey,” 1803] > **[nice | Etymology of nice by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/nice)** > > "foolish, ignorant, frivolous, senseless," from Old French nice (12c.) "careless, clumsy;… See origin and meaning of nice. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/7 "2015-09-01T20:26:32Z")
My HS English teacher insisted that we not use nice too much, and that we were using it in the wrong way. Now we know. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/8 "2015-09-01T21:03:08Z")
Anything for which there’s been a euphemism treadmill. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/9 "2015-09-01T22:27:25Z")
Spam. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/10 "2015-09-01T22:40:28Z")
Bitch was originally a term for a female dog. DO NOT USE IT TODAY in any context. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/11 "2015-09-01T22:59:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > DO NOT USE IT TODAY in any context …[bitch](https://youtu.be/WVR476WHmR8?t=17)! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/12 "2015-09-01T23:30:30Z")
How about “gay”? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/13 "2015-09-02T00:40:02Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > How about “gay”? I never saw a true gay bitch, I’ve never asked to see one. But save your feathers and your pitch, None posting here could be one! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/14 "2015-09-02T01:10:48Z")
Cretin. (Orginally meant Christian) ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/15 "2015-09-02T01:40:37Z")
“Yid” is a transliteration of the Yiddish word for “Jew” and is obviously not derogatory in Yiddish. But it’s considered a slur (though a minor one) in English, especially when used by non-Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/16 "2015-09-02T01:46:17Z")
Uncle Tom: in the original novel, a deeply religious pacifist who refuses to repay violence with violence. In later usage, a servile co-dependent of white oppression. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/17 "2015-09-03T13:09:59Z")
Queer originally met strange. Queer Nation aside, many people still consider it a insult. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/18 "2015-09-03T14:49:53Z")
High Maintenance. Used to be, if you had a car that was high maintenance, it was because it was an expensive, fancy sports car and it cost a lot to keep it running. The good thing was, so long as you kept it up, it was a hell of a car. Nowadays, High Maintenance (as applied to girlfriends)? Not so good. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/19 "2015-09-03T17:58:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Silly** , of all things: Also awful, which originally meant “inspiring awe,” and artificial, which meant “artful.” The story that a [British monarch referred to St. Paul’s cathedral as “amusing, awful, and artificial,”](http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/10/31/st-pauls-cathedral/) and meant it as a compliment, is mainly apocryphal, although the “artificial” part seems to be true. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616/20 "2015-09-04T02:37:29Z")
In Australia, the term ‘average’ when used to describe certain things is somewhat derogatory. It maintains its original meaning in dedicated statistical discussion only. If you say ‘The rainfall for the month was about average’ it means exactly what you say - there are numbers involved However, ‘The weather had been a bit average last month’ means something different. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-things-that-became-derogatory/729616.md?page=2)