# Words that have suddenly become very popular **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962 "2020-03-05T13:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/41 "2020-03-06T14:44:46Z")
One I’ve noticed in the past few years is “curated” It seems it used to be reserved for museum exhibits or art galleries, but now anything can be “curated”, from apartment furnishings to a list of outrageous things Donald trump has done: > **[Perspective | The #ToddlerinChief thread is now the age of a toddler. Here’s...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/25/toddlerinchief-thread-is-now-age-toddler-heres-what-ive-learned/)** > > Happy second birthday! ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/42 "2020-03-06T16:37:43Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Again, it means something specific. You rescue a pet when you literally bring it in off the streets, or when you get it from a shelter, or maybe when you pre-empt someone taking it to a shelter by allowing it to be “re-homed” with you. No one rescues a puppy they have purchased from a breeder for $800. Blind people do not rescue the dogs they get from Seeing Eye, Inc. > > I’m not saying there aren’t people who use the word with a little smugness, but it does mean something more specific than just “getting” a pet. I agree, getting a pet at the pound or through ‘a rescue’ is…well, a rescue. It somebody were really calling a dog bought from a breeder or at a pet store a rescue that would be screwed up, and I doubt that happens much. But I assume the previous poster just feels it’s pretentious to call a dog you got at ‘the pound’ a ‘rescue’. All our and grown kids’ dogs have been, I don’t typically refer to them as ‘rescues’ in part because yeah that’s a more popular word now and I’m older. I may well mention they come from X shelter though to people curious about them. That might help other dogs at the shelter, if people know that the ‘pit bull’ so pretty and cute that they stopped to comment on it, then saw how sweet it was, came from that shelter. Since there are more where they came from. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/43 "2020-03-06T17:39:50Z")
“Prolly” used in place of “probably”, at least in written form. “Disrespected” as a word; I never heard it used prior to a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/44 "2020-03-06T18:15:08Z")
> [@Oglomott](#): > > “Prolly” used in place of “probably”, at least in written form. > > “Disrespected” as a word; I never heard it used prior to a few years ago. _Prolly_ (mostly spoken) and _disrespected_ have been used frequently by black folks for decades. Other words and phrases mentioned above that have been a standard part of black folks lexicon: _Salty I fuck with that Dropped Woke Do you feel me_ We have been using these words with great frequency since the 80s…I guess everybody else is just now catching up. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/45 "2020-03-06T18:16:35Z")
“Cohort” is everywhere. Makes me think of _phlegm_. ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/46 "2020-03-06T18:19:34Z")
I hate the word “misspoke” A weaselly little word that allows people to avoid consequences when they let the wrong shit fall out of their mouths. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/47 "2020-03-06T18:41:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I agree. I am often in meetings when someone says “optics” to mean “that might make us look bad” And we used to use “perception” before “optics” became so popular. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/48 "2020-03-07T02:18:48Z")
The phrase “Out of an abundance of caution” is sure getting a workout these days. ‘Amazing’ is overused. Any glurgy comment on social media seems to contain that word, and it’s even used for a lot of things that are not. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/49 "2020-03-07T04:19:12Z")
“Conflate” instead of “mix up,” “confuse,” etc. I thought I was being clever to have used it once or twice a couple years ago, but then suddenly noticed everybody else was saying it too. I must have picked it up unconsciously as the trend began and thought I was being original. “Gaslighting” has definitely taken off the last few years. My GF used it and I didn’t know the meaning. So she got the movie _Gaslight_ for us to watch by way of illustration. Soon after that it shot up in frequency. “-adjacent” as a combining form, now that you mention it. Lots of the others mentioned here I haven’t noticed at all, or have been seeing them around for decades. “Impact” as a verb started in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/50 "2020-03-07T04:21:48Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > “Gaslighting” has definitely taken off the last few years. My GF used it and I didn’t know the meaning. So she got the movie _Gaslight_ for us to watch by way of illustration. Soon after that it shot up in frequency. No, it hasn’t. You’re just imagining things. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/51 "2020-03-07T05:31:08Z")
The verb “mock” was an archaic word that was rarely heard when I was a kid in the '70s and '80s. Nobody I knew used the word – people instead used the clumsier phrase “make fun of.” My little sister never would have complained to my mother that someone was “mocking” her; she would instead say that they were making fun of her. Over the last few years, though, “mock” seems to have made a comeback, and I hear it all the time now. In fact, one of my nieces recently complained to her mother that her brother was mocking her. 😉 She was so upset I had to suppress a smirk when I heard her say that. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2020, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/52 "2020-03-07T06:44:40Z")
> [@robby](#): > > The verb “mock” was an archaic word that was rarely heard when I was a kid in the '70s and '80s. Nobody I knew used the word – people instead used the clumsier phrase “make fun of.” > > My little sister never would have complained to my mother that someone was “mocking” her; she would instead say that they were making fun of her. > > Over the last few years, though, “mock” seems to have made a comeback, and I hear it all the time now. In fact, one of my nieces recently complained to her mother that her brother was mocking her. 😉 She was so upset I had to suppress a smirk when I heard her say that. I find many uses of _mock_ as a verb–at least as far back as 1990, where the corpus starts–on all kinds of TV shows, in magazines, in newspapers. From the data, it clearly isn’t a usage that was barely heard until “over the last few years.” ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/53 "2020-03-07T16:56:30Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I find many uses of _mock_ as a verb–at least as far back as 1990, where the corpus starts–on all kinds of TV shows, in magazines, in newspapers. From the data, it clearly isn’t a usage that was barely heard until “over the last few years.” I initially wrote “last few decades” in my post, but thought that it sounded awkward. I guess I should have left it that way. I was still in college in 1990, after which I entered the adult world. I still divide things up as occurring before and after college. Everything before college seems like ancient history; everything since college seems like it just happened, even songs, movies, and TV shows that were released 25 years ago. So I confess that my sense of time may well be skewed. In any event, I never heard the word used in everyday speech when I was growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/54 "2020-03-07T17:15:05Z")
> [@robby](#): > > The verb “mock” was an archaic word that was rarely heard when I was a kid in the '70s and '80s. Nobody I knew used the word – people instead used the clumsier phrase “make fun of.” > > My little sister never would have complained to my mother that someone was “mocking” her; she would instead say that they were making fun of her. > > Over the last few years, though, “mock” seems to have made a comeback, and I hear it all the time now. In fact, one of my nieces recently complained to her mother that her brother was mocking her. 😉 She was so upset I had to suppress a smirk when I heard her say that. Naw. I remember using that word in that way in the 1980s - maybe not a preteen, but certainly as a older teen. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/55 "2020-03-08T00:39:18Z")
I agree about “mock.” When I was in Catholic school in the 1960s, the only time that word was used was that “they mocked Jesus.” Once when a classmate said “Do you mock me?” it sounded deliberately archaic, Biblical, out of place. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/56 "2020-03-08T01:09:16Z")
“Absolutely” as an answer to a Yes/No Question. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/57 "2020-03-08T01:23:27Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > “Pronoun” in place of “gender” ie “Im not sure what gender Howey identities with I hope I call him or her or they by the right pronoun.” > > “Novel” to describe the Coronavirus. “Scientists make predictions of the novel Coronavirus infection rate.” > > “Quid pro quo” had a big resurgence for obvious reasons. > > On Facebook “boomer” and “Karen” have been trending. > Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pronoun doesn’t mean gender, not now nor has it ever. It means respecting a person by referring to them how THEY want to be referred. It’s just a matter of respect. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/58 "2020-03-08T01:51:54Z")
Ah, but pronouns have genders. They always have had. [Grammatical gender - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/59 "2020-03-08T02:13:48Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I agree about “mock.” When I was in Catholic school in the 1960s, the only time that word was used was that “they mocked Jesus.” Once when a classmate said “Do you mock me?” it sounded deliberately archaic, Biblical, out of place. I’m a bit younger – Catholic school in the 80s – and I don’t remember “mock” as being particularly archaic. Yes, “making fun of” was the more colloquial phrase, but that _still_ is the more colloquial phrase, so far as I can tell. I mean, I don’t think anyone would give you a weird look if you used the word “mock” back in the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962/60 "2020-03-08T03:26:40Z")
I’m sure I remember it in a quote from _The Goodies_ (1970s) Tim: Mock me if you must… Bill&Graham: Oh, we must, we must! (don’t recall what they were mocking him about … something to do with the Queen no doubt) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-have-suddenly-become-very-popular/848962.md?page=4)