The word "bully" ......

… how has it evolved recently (or not so recently)?

Back in the day we had the “neighborhood bully” and the “schoolyard bully”. It was generally a physical situation rather than mental but being scared of getting beat up can certainly become a mental issue.

With the advent of social media the term and problem has become more of a mental thing and more widespread even leading to some well publicized suicides.

Up until very recently, it seems that the term “hazing” was more appropriate in certain circumstances involving groups and the term"harassment" was more often used when older individuals are involved.

Now we’re seeing “bullying” used extensively with regard to NFL players in the Miami Dolphins/Richie Incognito situation.

Question: Can anyone think of a similar high-profile incident wear the term was used in this way?

I’m thinking not and wondering how this change comes about other than by the media deciding that they want society to think of them both in the same way.

The word originally (from the Dutch) meant lover, and eventually came to mean admirable. The “Bully Pulpit”—which is often mistakenly taken to mean a position from which one can force others to listen—originally meant a “very good” position from which to be heard.

Bully—meaning someone who abuses the weak—comes from the use of the word to mean a pimp.

I think you are far too casually attributing to “the media” a will, or some form of sentience.

Hazing, to my mind, is when a group uses some form, or forms of abuse as a means of initiation. With the Incognito case, there seems to be two individuals interacting.

Here in Mexico, the Spanish language didn’t have a word for “bullying”. So they adopted the English word.
Apparently bullying must exist here, hence they imported the word. But I suspect that incidences of bullying have increased recently probably due to the media and internet. And now this phenomenon has a name here.

I’m not seeing the term bullying being applied to a significantly wider range of situations then a decade or two previously.

When older individuals are involved bullying is called what it is - such as intimidation, harassment, robbery, theft, assault and worse.

Only in childhood, for some unknown reason are a range of criminal actions diluted and obfuscated by being simply referred to as “bullying”.

“Hazing” is an american term referring to an initiation practice, particularity at school or college. (Depending on the acts involved it can constitute bullying.)

You seem to be making the OP’s (ostensible) point for 'em. Unless you are considering NFL-aged players to not be “older.”

I know nothing and am offering no statement about “seeing “bullying” used extensively with regard to NFL players in the Miami Dolphins/Richie Incognito situation.”

Generally speaking, the term "bullying has been used to refer to incidents by older persons (outside school /college age) before, but not often and hardly enough times to believe that its meaning has changed recently.

Well “then, o"k . I"l"l take you"re’ word f"o’r” it"

I recently got partway into an article by a freelance writer who was “bullied” by another mom at the school bus stop for not working outside the home. By the time I got fed up, some other woman had merely asked the author what she does all day, and she went into her thoughts on being a stay at home mom.

Since I didn’t finish reading it, it’s possible that by the end of the article, the other mom had escalated and brutally punched the author in the face and called her a lazy cunt. I think that’s unlikely; I think some woman asked her what she does all day and she decided it was bullying.

But like you said, even if something bad did happen, why not call it harassment and assault instead of adult bullying? And to go even further and call it bullying when another adult asks you a rude question like what you do with all your free time? It seems like misuse of the word.

Workplace bullying” is a common enough expression. I doubt many people are being stuffed in lockers or having their heads forced into toilets by coworkers.

Everything is bullying today. The word’s becoming near meaningless from overuse.

These days you get called a bully if you don’t kowtow to some kid’s gluten allergy when you bring in a snack for another kid’s birthday.

This may be true of bullying among boys, but I think it’s been acknowledged for at least the past few decades that when girls are bullied (by other girls or boys) then physical fighting isn’t that common. It’s not unheard of for girls to get into fights or get beat up, but insults, malicious pranks, gossip, and other kinds of head games and manipulation are more common.

Hazing specifically refers to abuse or humiliation that’s part of an initiation into some organization. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this referred to as bullying. In the workplace then a lot of behavior that would be called bullying among kids would instead be called harassment, but that term does suggest that the behavior is illegal or at least a violation of policy.

My workplace, like many others, has a specific definition for what constitutes harassment. It covers physical/spoken/written hostility on the basis of a number of attributes including race, sex, religion, disability, and sexual orientation, but as far as I can tell then mocking or insulting a colleague for being weird, ugly, dorky, annoying, or badly dressed would not violate this policy. Neither would more subtle behavior like spreading rumors or deliberately attempting to make a coworker look bad by not passing messages on to them, etc. I would hope that this kind of behavior would get an employee into trouble of some kind, but it wouldn’t fall under the harassment policy as I understand it. Calling this kind of thing bullying seems reasonable enough to me. The term “mobbing” is also used to describe this kind of behavior, but I know some people find that term confusing (“Did they have torches and pitchforks?”) while “bullying” is widely understood.

First off: Bullying is generally a pattern, not just a singular action.

And, I’m sure you meant ‘nearly’ rather than ‘near.’ It is just not that difficult.

And overuse is not the same as a change in usage.

Holy shit! You’re the lamest bully I’ve encountered in weeks.