# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/41 "2013-06-02T05:49:52Z")
Hippie. My mom was (sort-of) a hippie for a few years. It was a cultural movement. Now whenever I hear someone say it, it seems to carry a negative connotation. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/42 "2013-06-02T06:33:49Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > 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. > > … Yeah, I take your point about ‘curvy’. I’ve seen it transform also, as big girls claim it for their own. But he’s right, a similar thing happened with ‘healthy’ although mainly in the black community. It’s a little different in that case, because it tends to be something that the \*men \*say about big women, as opposed to the women appropriating the word for themselves, as they have with ‘curvy’. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/43 "2013-06-02T12:40:38Z")
Artiface means great skill. But if you say something is artificial, it now implies that its fake or inferior. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/44 "2013-06-02T12:56:22Z")
Vanilla. An absolutely delicious flavour is now used to mean boring. Vanilla is wonderful!! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/45 "2013-06-02T19:26:23Z")
“Feminist.” “Religious” “Spiritual” ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/46 "2013-06-02T21:16:45Z")
“Chemical” As in “if you bake your own bread it doesn’t have all those added _chemicals_ in them”. You have to say _chemicals_ with a shudder. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/47 "2013-06-03T17:22:35Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > 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. This is known as the “Euphemism Treadmill.” Eventually, whatever euphemism you choose takes on the same negative connotations as the term it was supposed to replace. So, you have to invent a new euphemism. Lather, rinse, and repeat. Nothing demonstrates this concept better than the terms we use to describe people who are mentally deficient. Moron, cretin, imbecille, retarded, special needs, and doubtless several more I can’t remember, were all originally euphemisms intended to be a kind way to talk around someone’s deficiencies. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/48 "2013-06-03T18:13:34Z")
“Jew”. “Jewish” is basically a perfectly fine neutral description of someone’s religion. But take off the “ish” and for some reason it sounds ugly. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/49 "2013-06-03T18:21:42Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Artiface means great skill. But if you say something is artificial, it now implies that its fake or inferior. (1) I think you meant _artifice_. (2) That word does have its own negative connotation of [trickery or insincerity](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artifice). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/50 "2013-06-03T18:31:29Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Historically, **tyrant** meant head of state who was not seen as the embodiment of that peoples’ principal god - i.e., a secular executive. Apparently, some of these folks misused their executive power so the word took on a negative connotation. I swear, you fuck _one_ goat… 😉 Also, **censor** : a Roman office of the census (they also controlled morality but it’s not what the job’s main focus was usually), and **Despot** , a Byzantine title similar to “prince.” This one is iffy: **chauvinism** originally _was_ negative, but was akin to jingoistic or nationalistic. Now it means you think men are better than women (in most people’s minds). But I could see how the original definition had _some_ potential positives in some people’s minds. I don’t know if the meaning of **curvy** has specifically changed, just that some women, say, on dating sites, call themselves curvy when they should probably use one of the other categories. Same with **voluptuous**. > [@MaxTheVool](#): > > “Jew”. > > “Jewish” is basically a perfectly fine neutral description of someone’s religion. But take off the “ish” and for some reason it sounds ugly. That’s many ethnicities. “Jap,” “Japanman,” “Chinaman,” “Hebe,” and in some rare contexts, “Yank,” (that one mostly for inaccuracy) “Brit,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/51 "2013-06-04T16:34:11Z")
“Illiterate”. Basically meaning “Cannot Read” but is used the same as “Stupid”. ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/52 "2013-07-01T12:51:17Z")
How about **manifesto**. Thanks a lot communists & unabomber… You guys ruin everything. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/53 "2013-07-01T13:01:19Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Nothing demonstrates this concept better than the terms we use to describe people who are mentally deficient. Moron, cretin, imbecille, retarded, special needs, and doubtless several more I can’t remember, were all originally euphemisms intended to be a kind way to talk around someone’s deficiencies. I wouldn’t call the originally meaning of imbecile euphemistic, it was originally a legal term meaning “anybody who is not considered able to represent him/herself in a court of law or a contract”: the very young, the very old, slaves, women, foreigners… ---
**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:** [July 1, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/54 "2013-07-01T13:22:17Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I wouldn’t call the originally meaning of imbecile euphemistic, it was originally a legal term meaning “anybody who is not considered able to represent him/herself in a court of law or a contract”: the very young, the very old, slaves, women, foreigners… Are you sure? I know “idiot” comes from a word meaning “person who isn’t involved in politics” (and now … you can write your own joke there) ---
**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:** [July 1, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727/55 "2013-07-01T14:03:43Z")
“Gypped” is heading that way. I cringe everytime someone uses it, and explain its origins from “gypsy.” To me, it’s no better than “jew him down.” And “queer” was neutral, then WAY negative, and now it’s back to neutral thanks to Queer Nation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-arent-negative-in-themselves-but-have-taken-on-negative-connotations/659727.md?page=2)