# Words that aren't negative in themselves but have taken on negative connotations **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727 "2013-05-30T17:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/21 "2013-05-31T09:06:20Z")
Certifiable. or Mental. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/22 "2013-05-31T13:52:24Z")
Cookie-cutter. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/23 "2013-05-31T14:48:20Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Healthy, as applied to a woman’s body type, has come to mean heavy. I dunno if that quite counts. If you hear a person described as healthy, you don’t assume that means they’re fat. I think ‘‘curvy’’ is a good example. Even if I weren’t fat, I would be curvy, but I would never describe myself as such due to the negative connotation. ‘‘Community organizer.’’ I will never forgive Sarah Palin for that cheap shot. That bitch wasn’t just insulting liberal do-gooders but pretty much every grassroots movement that generated success for the Tea Party so they could support idiots like her. The conservatives by their own admission modeled their own grassroots movement off of the great liberal organizer Saul Alinsky, and she’s gonna throw shade like that? Hell to the no. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/24 "2013-05-31T15:05:59Z")
He’s **special** ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/25 "2013-05-31T16:08:12Z")
Being cynical (in my opinion). I called someone cynical the other day and they took it as a bad thing when I meant it as a compliment (I’m cynical myself and find it a good thing to be, at least a little bit). ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/26 "2013-05-31T19:34:08Z")
The word consequence has a neutral denotation, i.e. “A result or effect of an action or condition.”, but its connotation is usually for a negative result of an action. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/27 "2013-05-31T20:35:54Z")
_Meeting_ really just means more than one person getting together to discuss something, but anyone with any time in the corporate world knows it as a synonym for “waste of time I can’t sleep through” ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/28 "2013-06-01T06:45:09Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > ‘‘Community organizer.’’ I will never forgive Sarah Palin for that cheap shot. That bitch wasn’t just insulting liberal do-gooders but pretty much every grassroots movement that generated success for the Tea Party so they could support idiots like her. I will never forgive liberals for the vicious, idiotic assaults on her (like yours) that STILL continue. ---
**Author:** ![thicksantorum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@thicksantorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thicksantorum)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/29 "2013-06-01T08:56:53Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > “Curvy” - at least in my experience, when you describe a female as curvy, the assumption is overweight - up to you if that’s negative I suppose. When a female describes herself as “curvy” it usually means she’s a sphere. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2013, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/30 "2013-06-01T09:24:22Z")
Conservative. Virgin. But really, I think that a sufficiently skilled orator or writer (and I am neither) can make pretty much any phrase positive, negative, or an insult. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/31 "2013-06-01T11:48:38Z")
Graphic. I’m wondering if the word “retarded” is heading this way, too, although could one argue it was always somewhat negative? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/32 "2013-06-01T11:58:20Z")
**Exceptional**. When I was in grade school, in the span of a few years “exceptional” went from meaning advanced to slow. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/33 "2013-06-01T12:23:53Z")
Agenda. As in “gay agenda”. Why is it a bad thing to fight for equal rights? 😕 Also: Tea Bag. [I make no connection between the two BTW. :)] ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/34 "2013-06-01T13:52:13Z")
> [@thicksantorum](#): > > When a female describes herself as “curvy” it usually means she’s a sphere. When a man describes a woman as ‘curvy’ he means she’s got big tits. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/35 "2013-06-01T13:55:38Z")
In the UK we do not see ‘liberal’ as pejorative. ‘Liberal’ with a capital ‘L’ is often used as a synonym for weak minded wishy-washy; particularly in the press. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/36 "2013-06-01T14:52:58Z")
69? 😉 (Well, it’s not negative if you enjoy it.) Don’t know if this is exactly on-topic, but the word “modest” is often used ironically, when someone is being boastful. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/37 "2013-06-01T21:44:47Z")
Discrimination-Used to imply someone who could make distinctions and of sound judgement Puritan-Refers to the movement to reform the Church of England in the 17th Century not hysterical, McCarthyite Victorian moralists Fagged-In the sense of “I’m fagged out”. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/38 "2013-06-01T23:11:42Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I’m wondering if the word “retarded” is heading this way, too, although could one argue it was always somewhat negative? It used to just be a clinical term, then it became an insult. But really anything you replace it with like “special” just winds up getting used the same way so they should quit bothering to find new terms. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/39 "2013-06-01T23:24:08Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > I will never forgive liberals for the vicious, idiotic assaults on her (like yours) that STILL continue. Ok, I give up. Which word in this example sentence is used negatively but really has a neutral meaning? Because there’s no way you’re serious, right? My word is atheist. It should be just a descriptor of a person’s position, but it’s said with such venom that it’s now considered almost communistic or something to be one in certain locations. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/40 "2013-06-02T03:11:38Z")
> [@Renifer](#): > > Title explains it. Maybe. You imply that the majority of “negative” words carry their negativity by denotation alone. In fact, as this thread seems to demonstrate, I would say that just as many–if not more–“negative” words acquire that negativity through connotation, by historical context. That’s the very essence of language. The [pragmatics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics) of connotation is ever fluid, because a word like _curvy_, for example, is part of a larger social discourse, and can’t really be singled out in isolation as having a renegade “negative connotation” all on its own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727.md?page=3)