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.
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’.
Artiface means great skill. But if you say something is artificial, it now implies that its fake or inferior.
Vanilla. An absolutely delicious flavour is now used to mean boring. Vanilla is wonderful!!
“Feminist.”
“Religious”
“Spiritual”
“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.
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.
“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.
(1) I think you meant artifice.
(2) That word does have its own negative connotation of trickery or insincerity.
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.
That’s many ethnicities. “Jap,” “Japanman,” “Chinaman,” “Hebe,” and in some rare contexts, “Yank,” (that one mostly for inaccuracy) “Brit,” etc.
“Illiterate”. Basically meaning “Cannot Read” but is used the same as “Stupid”.
How about manifesto.
Thanks a lot communists & unabomber… You guys ruin everything.
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)
“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.