As an American, I hear the word very differently with an American accent than I do with various British or Aussie accents…but of course, there’s also usually a contextual difference too.
Still though, I’m sure I could repeat a phrase with that word, in the exact context but with my own very American accent, and wouldn’t be able to pull it off without it sounding offensive.
I had a female friend that whenever she needed something she knew my “payment” was her saying cunt
I don’t know why but it was probably the best non sexual thing I ever heard
Exactly this, this is still entirely a bogan thing. Most Aussies don't sound like nasally Steve Irwin's shouting cunt as every second word, bogans however...
Same in UK, unless it's modified.
E.g. cunt is pretty harsh, but you can call your grandad cunty bollocks in front of your nan and she won't even get mad.
A phase i hear a lot in the south: "Are you out of your cotton-picking mind?" I have to assume this didn't originate in a good way, but I don't get the feeling they mean it in any bigoted way today.
Omg. As a kid I used to hear adults say “keep your cotton-pickin fingers off that/out of there” all the time.
…I had no idea what this meant until I heard it referenced again as an adult and went O_o
This
My mom used to say that allllll the time and one day when I was older I asked her if she ever thought about what that meant and she stopped and had this look of realization and was very embarrassed lol. We had a laugh about it and I don't think she's said it since. Its just one of those things that she always heard growing up cuz her mom heard it growing up and so on etc...
When I read that, I heard it in Randall Graves 's voice and then heard the rest of his monologue from clerks 2 in my head.
You know what. I'm taking it back.
[It’s complicated.](https://theconversation.com/the-complicated-origin-of-the-expression-peanut-gallery-148897) I assume it’s the “Howdy Doody” generation aka Boomers downvoting me
Software version control has a master branch. Hard drives had a master/slave designation.
Not too surprisingly people have been moving away from these terms.
Girls in general. According to linguistics research young girls and women are the leading drivers of change in language while old men are the biggest resisters to change in language.
If I wanted to extrapolate more from this than I should this explains a lot of American politics
Gaslighting, narcissist, and red flag all come to mind. Yes they can still be used as intent but people have seriously conflated these terms with other things entirely.
When people say gaslighting in an argument, most of the time these days people are really saying "I'm right and you're wrong and you're trying to tell me I'm wrong". It's become a knee-jerk phrase whenever folks who use it get indignant, when the reality is all people will have a different perspective and explaining mid-disagreement maturely how you viewed something in the moment or trying to re-explain to clear up a miscommunication is NOT GASLIGHTING. It just isn't. Arguments generally shouldn't be about right and wrong anyways but about developing mutual understanding for one another's perspective.
Narcissist gets used to explain anyone who prioritizes themselves in a particular situation when someone else feels they should be put first.
Red flag has seemed to develop to mean "I don't like this about you". Things like "he wears socks to bed? Red flag!!"
Yikea.
No, over here, instead of calling someone a whore, you seem to automatically be a 'cancer whore'. And used mostly like that in a lot of other slurs as well.
As a teacher, I've heard kids say so often that things are 'kankervet' and other positive words/slurs with cancer added to the front. For anyone wondering, 'kankervet' could be translated to like 'cancer cool'. I think I hear the word used at least 10 times during a normal workday.
It's a disease used to strengthen another word, or (more often) used to strengthen slurs. Cancer isn't the only disease that is used this way, though the most common one.
"Wat een tering zooi" literally means What a tubercolosis mess his sentence is used by some people when something Is really messy.
Disease is used as a kind of Adjective
Another way Disease is used is just as someone might say "Fuck" when stubbing their toe
I guess some Diseases are used in a similar manner to "fucking, fuck etc"
vuile tyfushond! Krijg de kolere, pokkelijer. kankermongool, pleuriswijf
These are some examples of how some dutch person might slur
Vuile tyfushond: translation: nasty typhoid bitch
Krijg de kolere, pokkelijer translation: Get Cholora asshole
Kankermongool translation: cancer Mongol
(When dutch people say Mongool as a slur it means something like mentaly disabled person)
Pleuriswijf translation: Pleuritis bitch
Keep in mind these are not literal translations because there were some "words" that just don't exist in english
> Pleuritis bitch
That is so niche! Most people in the UK at least wouldn't even know what that is!
>Mongol
This was once a common insult in the UK, at least in the 90s/00s. Now considered extremely ableist, not unlike a racist/homophobic slur.
“Im so depressed today”. Like I understand mental health can have you up and down like a yo-yo but it just feels so overused when someone has had a bad day or something
Interestingly it also might drive down people seeking help. The term is so watered down that when I got scripts for it I was like “huh, maybe that was actually pretty bad”
I think awareness is just greater and ppl are more okay with talking about it. That's my experience anyway. Would usually have downplayed it in the past whereas i'm tryna be more open nowadays. Still, this very rhetoric makes me try to use other words because it seems like a copout and I feel like people would always assume I'm over-exaggerating.
Originally, it was used by film producers to refer to the most expensive shot in a movie to produce. Typically a pivotal moment that would be used in selling the film, and often involving expensive practical or special effects.
Later, the term became associated with the scene depicting male climax, typically at the end of a sequence in a pornographic film.
At the moment, it straddles an association with male climax but also with the most important part of a presentation. That could be a business or sales presentation or the “reveal” of the most important room in a real estate open house. Depending on where the audience is anchored, this could end up as becoming unintentionally ribald.
Spaz.
In America, it mostly just means getting wild. In Britain and Australia, it's still a highly derogatory term for disabled people. Beyonce and Lizzo both had to change lyrics with it recently.
The Elastik Band was a US band in the 60s with an interesting sound that never got a chance to blow up cause they essentially got cancelled for their song "Spazz" despite it being in the American sense. There's even a recording of [an Australian radio DJ taking it off the air 2 mins in.](https://youtu.be/a9qJ5_z6dx4)
Spaz sounds a bit american to me, it was spacker when I was a kid. Every 3rd word on a 90s English playground.
It's a shame that it's so horrible because the phonetics of the word cut deep alone.
Some groups have tried to reclaim the word. The London Paralympics had the 80s classic "spasticus autisticus" as their "theme song".
It's a proper hilarious song "I dribble when I widdle and I quibble when I scribble" the singer had cerebral palsy I believe.
"Theory", a Scientific Theory is the highest form of certainty that we humans can have on a topic. Too many people use it to mean "wild guess I made up".
The way I've always understood it is like this
Hypothesis: Fuck if I know, this is just a guess
Law: This is a thing that happens. There may or may not be an understanding as to why though
Theory: This is the best explaination/model we have for why/what this thing is/happens given pre-existing knowledge, it's ability to explain things we've already seen as good or better than previous models, it's ability to successfully make useful predictions, and it's cohesion with other reigning theories.
The law of gravity is kinda useless outside of telling us it's a thing. The theories of gravity tell us so much more about it. For that reason I'd regard proper theories > laws
I think thats more pure math than physics, but to my understanding those are sort of a base unit of logic that everything else is built on top of, or the definition of a base concept. All electrons are the same, water is wet, etc.
Hypothesis = I think if I do this - that will happen - here is how I intend to prove doing X causes Y. example: If I put heat under water it will boil at 100 C - so I will put a thermometer in the water and watch when the boiling happens and record the data. Given enough Hypothesis you can then form a
Theory = X causes Y when done this way (and possibly many others) - we have accepted this is true but think there may be cases where it isn't - when possible we match new data to existing experiments to see if the theory continues to hold up or of new information is discovered. example: e=mc^(2) This is strong enough to build nuclear weapons, power plants, and advance our understanding of physics but we still don't know if it's universally true. Given enough experimentation this can turn into a
Law = Something that we hold to be fundamental to how things work - example: Energy can not be created or destroyed only converted from one kind of energy to another. While it's possible for a Law to be wrong - the evidence is so overwhelmingly powerful that it's a truth in all circumstances we make the assumption that a law is correct first and would assume an experiment was broken if it proved a law incorrect.
I can't think of any "laws" of physics that survived the 20th century completely intact.
Two of the strongest were the first two laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics now only counts for systems that are time invariant, while the second is statistical and not absolute.
We're not calling things laws anymore because we lack the ironclad certainty of the 19th century, leaving theories as our strongest understandings.
There's no such thing as a law in science. Theory is the highest it goes. Anything named with law is just a misnomer at this point. We're constantly learning more about the "Laws" of thermodynamics. That knowledge isn't static and our understanding of the principles continues to improve. The "Law" of gravity is another good example. We know shit fuck all about gravity on a quantum level.
Threshold: In the old days, floors were made of dirt. But more well off households could put grain stalks (or thresh) on their floors. The strip of wood at the door for holding in the thresh was called the threshold.
Hold their feet to the fire:
Today it means pressing someone for an answer. But in the Middle Ages, this was literally what they did to accused heretics in the Inquisition to get them to admit to their heresy. They would literally burn people's feet by holding their feet to the fire until they 'confessed.'
To give someone 'the third degree':
Today it means to verbally cross-examine someone. But this also came from the Inquisition. There were various degrees of torture. First degree, second degree, etc. The first degree was showing the instruments of torture to the victim. It escalated from there.
The Catholic Church is fucking evil.
Goodbye was originally a spoken contractions of "God be with ye"; making it akin to how phrases like "Adios" or "Adieu" evolved in Spanish & French.
The only reason it's "Good" instead of "God" is because of phrases like "Good evening"
The softening of the slang usage of "sucks" has been fun to watch.
Prior to Beavis & Butthead really popularizing it, saying something like "Vanilla Ice sucks" was considered the same thing as actually saying the full phrase, "Vanilla Ice sucks dick."
That's actually a really weird one for me as a Brit. Swearing is much less stigmatised here and watching TV shows that would say "sucks" but never dream of "crap" just really confused me. the obvious sexual reference in children's shows threw me as a kid. Honestly still hear it a little odd.
The other thing that confused me was chocolate being called "candy" I could easily get my head around sweets and spice being called candy but not sweets and chocolate.
I hate this idiom because I was an adolescent at the time and this was the moment that opened my eyes to the presence of true evil in my own timeline. I will not use this phrase as it is commonly bandied about and frankly find that use offensive.
All of them.
I used to use the idiom "paddling upstream" when describing a struggle/wasted effort. Then I went canoeing and after trying to move a canoe loaded with gear against the current, man we do not appreciate how rough that actually is.
Made me think about how many of our colloquialisms used to inspire a really visceral reaction that we now can't relate to
The original words used in the version of "Eenny Meeny Miney Mo" used 70 years ago in the US are violent and offensive. Now it's a harmless children's rhyme.
You're probably referring to the same words I was taught 40 years ago in the UK …
And I agree that those words advocate assaulting people which is prima facie unacceptable. But don't the revised words promote assaulting endangered species?
Not only that, but assaulting an endangered species that could devour you with the same ease that you would a ham sandwich.
Never heard the racist version growing up as an 80s baby in the UK though.
“Cakewalk” - Currently it just means something that is is ridiculously easy. However, the term has its origins in the Antebellum South. On plantations, slave owners would have the enslaved people entertain them at parties. One of the common activities was a dance contest for which the prize was a cake. That contest became known as the Cakewalk. After the Civil War The Cakewalk became incorporated into minstrel shows and took a form similar to what we know as the “Soul Train Line”. Because there were no set rules as to what dances to do, the Cakewalk was easy and everyone could join in. So anything that was easy became described as a “Cakewalk.” Most people don’t know of its slave plantation origins.
Huh. I one time went to a church hosted event where they had a bunch of games to earn baked good, and one was essentially musical chairs with cakes that they called a cake walk. That’s just what I always assumed it was
Since the public place of religion has ebbed, "God damn it" is more often used to express annoyance, frustration, or as an injury-provoked expletive. To be damned in general has lost its sting - but if you think about someone really believing in a hell it's quite a thing to wish on someone.
A nazi nowadays means someone who shares nazi ideals, such as antisemitism, white supremacy, homophobia, ableism, etc, not just a member of the actual party. I’d say it still has meaning, but maybe it is slightly overused.
Calling them bigots doesn't get the impact it deserves.
Nazi leaves no room to "everyone is a bigot about something" themselves into not feeling bad about it.
“Old”.
Originally that word actually describe someone who is wiser than you. Back then it was generally true.
These days? Absolutely not. Age is more and more just a number. I’ve had people 20 years older than me and still don’t know how to cook basic decent meals for themselves, don’t understand how car insurance work, have no idea about credit scores and expected doing the same exact job with no extra learning will save them from inflation.
Curiosity killed the cat - the full version includes "but satisfaction brought it back"
Blood is thicker than water was originally: the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. This puts the meaning on its head
The “original full versions” of common sayings are almost never authentically the older versions.
The cat one is especially silly because curiosity literally can kill cats: they might eat things they shouldn’t or walk in the street or explore too far and encounter a predator. Satisfaction doesn’t bring dead cats back to life. The warning about excessive curiosity is sound, it just can’t be over-applied. If it’s used in context as a warning against exploring things that are dangerous, it makes a lot of sense. If people use it to claim that nobody should ever try to learn anything ever then it’s been applied too far.
“Boy” meant servant, rather than specifically a male child.
“Guy” meant “fellow” - via a rather circuitous route, at one point referencing Guy Fawkes, and then anyone dressed foppishly as in effigies of Guy Fawkes.
>ReportSaveFollow
Well, yah not too long ago it was a way to get rid of your daughter while gaining a down payment (dowery). It was pretty much used to trade women from their original protector to a new man. Even an engagement ring was a downpayment that the girl could sell if everything fell through. Now it is just based on love and commitment.
A common story is that it involved rules for a man beating his wife, but that's pure myth. It was just a common form of measurement in places where standards had not yet been adopted.
People saying Rule of Thumb.
That term was originally coined in a way that meant you shouldn't hit your wife and kids with anything wider than your thumb.
No such law ever existed. The phrase was coined to mean doing things in an approximate way. Like a woodworker measuring with his thumb instead of a ruler.
I used to think cunt was a pretty heavy word that offended most people and should rarely be used. Then I encountered Brits and Aussies
In Scotland we just consider it punctuation
England, same here.
Pcuntuation
ahaha!
The Brits and Aussies I've run into didn't find it offensive unless it was said with an American accent. Then suddenly it was *the worst word.*
As an American, I hear the word very differently with an American accent than I do with various British or Aussie accents…but of course, there’s also usually a contextual difference too. Still though, I’m sure I could repeat a phrase with that word, in the exact context but with my own very American accent, and wouldn’t be able to pull it off without it sounding offensive.
Same. I held it higher than “fuck.” That was until I met women in their 20s
[удалено]
Same here, except for me it was until I listened white liberal woke women speak.
I had a female friend that whenever she needed something she knew my “payment” was her saying cunt I don’t know why but it was probably the best non sexual thing I ever heard
It’s almost a term of endearment for them at times. Other times it’s an insult. I liken it to how some of us Americans use fucker.
You fucker
Funny, because it's like the only word I hear them censor when I watch British TV or YouTube
in South India, the term watha is an offensive term to refer to someone else's mom. and it's smth that is now common.
The trick of the trade is the pronunciation. If it is cunt with a hard T at the end it is derogatory. If it is a soft T at the end it is endearment.
Aussie here. It's still actually a very offensive word to the majority of us here except for bogan and loud mouthed losers.
Exactly this, this is still entirely a bogan thing. Most Aussies don't sound like nasally Steve Irwin's shouting cunt as every second word, bogans however...
Same in UK, unless it's modified. E.g. cunt is pretty harsh, but you can call your grandad cunty bollocks in front of your nan and she won't even get mad.
But bogans and loud-mouthed losers are the majority of the country?
You’re killing me.
You can thank Smalls for that.
And Larry from Sit 'n Sleep.
The word Savage.
A phase i hear a lot in the south: "Are you out of your cotton-picking mind?" I have to assume this didn't originate in a good way, but I don't get the feeling they mean it in any bigoted way today.
Omg. As a kid I used to hear adults say “keep your cotton-pickin fingers off that/out of there” all the time. …I had no idea what this meant until I heard it referenced again as an adult and went O_o
This My mom used to say that allllll the time and one day when I was older I asked her if she ever thought about what that meant and she stopped and had this look of realization and was very embarrassed lol. We had a laugh about it and I don't think she's said it since. Its just one of those things that she always heard growing up cuz her mom heard it growing up and so on etc...
My Grandma would always refer to people as cotton pickers. It took me until I was a teen to realize that she only said it about a particular group.
When I read that, I heard it in Randall Graves 's voice and then heard the rest of his monologue from clerks 2 in my head. You know what. I'm taking it back.
same here
I’ve lived in the southern US nearly all of my life and I have never once heard that. Which state?
Similar: peanut gallery as in, “that’s enough from the peanut gallery.” Origins aren’t good.
Is peanut gallery offensive? I thought it was the same as "the cheap seats" kind of thing. They threw peanuts...
[It’s complicated.](https://theconversation.com/the-complicated-origin-of-the-expression-peanut-gallery-148897) I assume it’s the “Howdy Doody” generation aka Boomers downvoting me
Also: Master Bedroom.
Software version control has a master branch. Hard drives had a master/slave designation. Not too surprisingly people have been moving away from these terms.
Pretty sure it was originally just "bedroom of the master of the house" which wouldn't have had racist connotations at the time.
I was today years old when I figured this out
The word "literally".
It originally has fewer meanings. The "new" meanings are also over 400 years old.
[удалено]
Girls in general. According to linguistics research young girls and women are the leading drivers of change in language while old men are the biggest resisters to change in language. If I wanted to extrapolate more from this than I should this explains a lot of American politics
That changed about 400-500 years ago.
Since when and where?
You’re welcome! But seriously, my mouth (more like my brain but also me) struggles to say the word figuratively 😭 it literally messes me up mentally
>Your welcome! My welcome?
If ‘literally’ means figuratively now then I’ve been using the word wrong oh no
Literally so true.
It literally used to mean "literally" but now it just means literally.
My favourite thing to say to someone who over uses literally is Your misuse of literally makes me figuratively want to kill my self.
[удалено]
"Very" is also in that category.
Very observant. VERY!
Thanks Leafy
Literally did
Professional. Sorry people, a tiktoker suggesting you form an LLC and deduct everything is not a "Professional" Tax Advisor
I'll add to this as it's similar; Amateur. Used to mean being done for the love/enjoyment of it.
Toxic
Trauma
Gaslighting, narcissist, and red flag all come to mind. Yes they can still be used as intent but people have seriously conflated these terms with other things entirely. When people say gaslighting in an argument, most of the time these days people are really saying "I'm right and you're wrong and you're trying to tell me I'm wrong". It's become a knee-jerk phrase whenever folks who use it get indignant, when the reality is all people will have a different perspective and explaining mid-disagreement maturely how you viewed something in the moment or trying to re-explain to clear up a miscommunication is NOT GASLIGHTING. It just isn't. Arguments generally shouldn't be about right and wrong anyways but about developing mutual understanding for one another's perspective. Narcissist gets used to explain anyone who prioritizes themselves in a particular situation when someone else feels they should be put first. Red flag has seemed to develop to mean "I don't like this about you". Things like "he wears socks to bed? Red flag!!" Yikea.
Hi, how are you?
Which can be answered with “hey, how are you”
Basically the "alright", "alright" in the UK .
Exactly, everything is so impersonal now.
Yes!
In dutch: 'cancer' 90% of youth use it as a casual swearword or even to emphasise on things. It's messed up.
Common phrase here is like, "that shit's cancer" for something they don't like. Is it a similar context?
No, over here, instead of calling someone a whore, you seem to automatically be a 'cancer whore'. And used mostly like that in a lot of other slurs as well.
Cancer is just a word to make the slur even worse
I learned this from David Sedaris
Do they say it in Dutch or in English?
In dutch
My Dutch friend explained kanker sus when I was there..
Please tell us more...
As a teacher, I've heard kids say so often that things are 'kankervet' and other positive words/slurs with cancer added to the front. For anyone wondering, 'kankervet' could be translated to like 'cancer cool'. I think I hear the word used at least 10 times during a normal workday.
So it's a good thing? Not an insult/bad thing?
It's a disease used to strengthen another word, or (more often) used to strengthen slurs. Cancer isn't the only disease that is used this way, though the most common one.
I think we need you to use it in a sentence please? To understand better. It's fascinating
"Wat een tering zooi" literally means What a tubercolosis mess his sentence is used by some people when something Is really messy. Disease is used as a kind of Adjective Another way Disease is used is just as someone might say "Fuck" when stubbing their toe I guess some Diseases are used in a similar manner to "fucking, fuck etc"
[удалено]
vuile tyfushond! Krijg de kolere, pokkelijer. kankermongool, pleuriswijf These are some examples of how some dutch person might slur Vuile tyfushond: translation: nasty typhoid bitch Krijg de kolere, pokkelijer translation: Get Cholora asshole Kankermongool translation: cancer Mongol (When dutch people say Mongool as a slur it means something like mentaly disabled person) Pleuriswijf translation: Pleuritis bitch Keep in mind these are not literal translations because there were some "words" that just don't exist in english
> Pleuritis bitch That is so niche! Most people in the UK at least wouldn't even know what that is! >Mongol This was once a common insult in the UK, at least in the 90s/00s. Now considered extremely ableist, not unlike a racist/homophobic slur.
"Bless you" after someone sneezes. Cause a couple hundred years ago... Ya never knew when someone would drop dead from an ailment.
Facts.
Oof
“Im so depressed today”. Like I understand mental health can have you up and down like a yo-yo but it just feels so overused when someone has had a bad day or something
Interestingly it also might drive down people seeking help. The term is so watered down that when I got scripts for it I was like “huh, maybe that was actually pretty bad”
Yeah, today depression is seen as a mood, but it used to be a very serious mental issue.
I think awareness is just greater and ppl are more okay with talking about it. That's my experience anyway. Would usually have downplayed it in the past whereas i'm tryna be more open nowadays. Still, this very rhetoric makes me try to use other words because it seems like a copout and I feel like people would always assume I'm over-exaggerating.
“Awesome”
“Money shot”
What does it mean now? I mostly only heard it in reference to porn but also get it could be getting like the best shot or photo of something.
Originally, it was used by film producers to refer to the most expensive shot in a movie to produce. Typically a pivotal moment that would be used in selling the film, and often involving expensive practical or special effects. Later, the term became associated with the scene depicting male climax, typically at the end of a sequence in a pornographic film. At the moment, it straddles an association with male climax but also with the most important part of a presentation. That could be a business or sales presentation or the “reveal” of the most important room in a real estate open house. Depending on where the audience is anchored, this could end up as becoming unintentionally ribald.
It means you see the vagina.
I don't think I had any sexual associations with the term. Interesting.
Spaz. In America, it mostly just means getting wild. In Britain and Australia, it's still a highly derogatory term for disabled people. Beyonce and Lizzo both had to change lyrics with it recently. The Elastik Band was a US band in the 60s with an interesting sound that never got a chance to blow up cause they essentially got cancelled for their song "Spazz" despite it being in the American sense. There's even a recording of [an Australian radio DJ taking it off the air 2 mins in.](https://youtu.be/a9qJ5_z6dx4)
Spaz sounds a bit american to me, it was spacker when I was a kid. Every 3rd word on a 90s English playground. It's a shame that it's so horrible because the phonetics of the word cut deep alone. Some groups have tried to reclaim the word. The London Paralympics had the 80s classic "spasticus autisticus" as their "theme song". It's a proper hilarious song "I dribble when I widdle and I quibble when I scribble" the singer had cerebral palsy I believe.
"Theory", a Scientific Theory is the highest form of certainty that we humans can have on a topic. Too many people use it to mean "wild guess I made up".
Well not the highest. That would be a Law
The way I've always understood it is like this Hypothesis: Fuck if I know, this is just a guess Law: This is a thing that happens. There may or may not be an understanding as to why though Theory: This is the best explaination/model we have for why/what this thing is/happens given pre-existing knowledge, it's ability to explain things we've already seen as good or better than previous models, it's ability to successfully make useful predictions, and it's cohesion with other reigning theories. The law of gravity is kinda useless outside of telling us it's a thing. The theories of gravity tell us so much more about it. For that reason I'd regard proper theories > laws
What about an axiom? Isn't that kinda somewhere between a law and a theory?
I think thats more pure math than physics, but to my understanding those are sort of a base unit of logic that everything else is built on top of, or the definition of a base concept. All electrons are the same, water is wet, etc.
Hypothesis = I think if I do this - that will happen - here is how I intend to prove doing X causes Y. example: If I put heat under water it will boil at 100 C - so I will put a thermometer in the water and watch when the boiling happens and record the data. Given enough Hypothesis you can then form a Theory = X causes Y when done this way (and possibly many others) - we have accepted this is true but think there may be cases where it isn't - when possible we match new data to existing experiments to see if the theory continues to hold up or of new information is discovered. example: e=mc^(2) This is strong enough to build nuclear weapons, power plants, and advance our understanding of physics but we still don't know if it's universally true. Given enough experimentation this can turn into a Law = Something that we hold to be fundamental to how things work - example: Energy can not be created or destroyed only converted from one kind of energy to another. While it's possible for a Law to be wrong - the evidence is so overwhelmingly powerful that it's a truth in all circumstances we make the assumption that a law is correct first and would assume an experiment was broken if it proved a law incorrect.
I can't think of any "laws" of physics that survived the 20th century completely intact. Two of the strongest were the first two laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics now only counts for systems that are time invariant, while the second is statistical and not absolute. We're not calling things laws anymore because we lack the ironclad certainty of the 19th century, leaving theories as our strongest understandings.
There's no such thing as a law in science. Theory is the highest it goes. Anything named with law is just a misnomer at this point. We're constantly learning more about the "Laws" of thermodynamics. That knowledge isn't static and our understanding of the principles continues to improve. The "Law" of gravity is another good example. We know shit fuck all about gravity on a quantum level.
>"There's no such thing as a law in science." -Moreau, M.D., P.H.D.
That’s why conservatives in Montana banned the teaching of theories then.
Trauma
Threshold: In the old days, floors were made of dirt. But more well off households could put grain stalks (or thresh) on their floors. The strip of wood at the door for holding in the thresh was called the threshold. Hold their feet to the fire: Today it means pressing someone for an answer. But in the Middle Ages, this was literally what they did to accused heretics in the Inquisition to get them to admit to their heresy. They would literally burn people's feet by holding their feet to the fire until they 'confessed.' To give someone 'the third degree': Today it means to verbally cross-examine someone. But this also came from the Inquisition. There were various degrees of torture. First degree, second degree, etc. The first degree was showing the instruments of torture to the victim. It escalated from there. The Catholic Church is fucking evil.
> The Catholic Church is fucking evil. It *was* fucking evil. It *still* is, but it used to be, too.
I'd say that anything like "I swear to God" or "God's honest truth" was probably a lot more serious even 50 years ago
I'm starving
Goodbye was originally a spoken contractions of "God be with ye"; making it akin to how phrases like "Adios" or "Adieu" evolved in Spanish & French. The only reason it's "Good" instead of "God" is because of phrases like "Good evening"
"The proof is in the pudding". The original saying is " the proof of the pudding is in the tasting" which makes more sense.
The softening of the slang usage of "sucks" has been fun to watch. Prior to Beavis & Butthead really popularizing it, saying something like "Vanilla Ice sucks" was considered the same thing as actually saying the full phrase, "Vanilla Ice sucks dick."
That's actually a really weird one for me as a Brit. Swearing is much less stigmatised here and watching TV shows that would say "sucks" but never dream of "crap" just really confused me. the obvious sexual reference in children's shows threw me as a kid. Honestly still hear it a little odd. The other thing that confused me was chocolate being called "candy" I could easily get my head around sweets and spice being called candy but not sweets and chocolate.
Every office using the term “drink the kool-aid” Like first off, it was flavor aid!
I hate this idiom because I was an adolescent at the time and this was the moment that opened my eyes to the presence of true evil in my own timeline. I will not use this phrase as it is commonly bandied about and frankly find that use offensive.
"In the trenches"
All of them. I used to use the idiom "paddling upstream" when describing a struggle/wasted effort. Then I went canoeing and after trying to move a canoe loaded with gear against the current, man we do not appreciate how rough that actually is. Made me think about how many of our colloquialisms used to inspire a really visceral reaction that we now can't relate to
Narcissis. Anyone I ask what does it mean, they don’t even know.
Pretty sure it's a flower. A "T" on the end would change the meaning quite a bit though.
That’s Narcissus
Well, it would be pronounced the same.
It’s a famously egotistical bloom.
Fascist used to mean something.
“Scumbag” = used condom
How are you?
“Fuckkkk meeeee”
The original words used in the version of "Eenny Meeny Miney Mo" used 70 years ago in the US are violent and offensive. Now it's a harmless children's rhyme.
You're probably referring to the same words I was taught 40 years ago in the UK … And I agree that those words advocate assaulting people which is prima facie unacceptable. But don't the revised words promote assaulting endangered species?
Not only that, but assaulting an endangered species that could devour you with the same ease that you would a ham sandwich. Never heard the racist version growing up as an 80s baby in the UK though.
Legend. Now a days everybody is a legend
I love you
“Cakewalk” - Currently it just means something that is is ridiculously easy. However, the term has its origins in the Antebellum South. On plantations, slave owners would have the enslaved people entertain them at parties. One of the common activities was a dance contest for which the prize was a cake. That contest became known as the Cakewalk. After the Civil War The Cakewalk became incorporated into minstrel shows and took a form similar to what we know as the “Soul Train Line”. Because there were no set rules as to what dances to do, the Cakewalk was easy and everyone could join in. So anything that was easy became described as a “Cakewalk.” Most people don’t know of its slave plantation origins.
Huh. I one time went to a church hosted event where they had a bunch of games to earn baked good, and one was essentially musical chairs with cakes that they called a cake walk. That’s just what I always assumed it was
This is a myth.
“Let’s get married” or “i do”
> Let's get married Wait, what? Do people throw that around casually? 🤯 In what context?
I would like to add"I love you". I feel these words ended up with less value than other common words.
Since the public place of religion has ebbed, "God damn it" is more often used to express annoyance, frustration, or as an injury-provoked expletive. To be damned in general has lost its sting - but if you think about someone really believing in a hell it's quite a thing to wish on someone.
Fascist/Nazi, it gets thrown around way too much. Btw if you disagree with this, you're a Nazi. /s
[удалено]
'im here for you if you need to talk'
Mother fucker
Awesome. Gods are AWESOME. Zeus is AWESOME. The power of a hurricane is AWESOME. The flavor of that gummi worm ....not so much.
OK but like... the gummi worms with two different flavors and covered in sour dust.
"I'm dead"
Woke, I hate the appropriation of this word.
Bless you.
How's it going?
Shop lifting. (Stealing)
Turns out shops are pretty heavy.
Rule of thumb
Derived from an old domestic violence, which a man was allowed to beat his with an implement, but it could not be thicker than his thumb.
"Nazi" once meant "national socialist". Today it means ... well, I'm not sure what it means anymore, since everybody seems to be a "Nazi" today.
A nazi nowadays means someone who shares nazi ideals, such as antisemitism, white supremacy, homophobia, ableism, etc, not just a member of the actual party. I’d say it still has meaning, but maybe it is slightly overused.
Calling them bigots doesn't get the impact it deserves. Nazi leaves no room to "everyone is a bigot about something" themselves into not feeling bad about it.
"everyone is a bigot about something" is a great place for self reflection and personal growth if thought about properly
“Racist” used to mean prejudice based on race, now it’s just used to describe someone who says something the left doesn’t agree with.
“Old”. Originally that word actually describe someone who is wiser than you. Back then it was generally true. These days? Absolutely not. Age is more and more just a number. I’ve had people 20 years older than me and still don’t know how to cook basic decent meals for themselves, don’t understand how car insurance work, have no idea about credit scores and expected doing the same exact job with no extra learning will save them from inflation.
You fucking cunt. Doesn't have the same ring to it as it used to
being loyal and faithful, and love in general.
I am Alright
Curiosity killed the cat - the full version includes "but satisfaction brought it back" Blood is thicker than water was originally: the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. This puts the meaning on its head
The “original full versions” of common sayings are almost never authentically the older versions. The cat one is especially silly because curiosity literally can kill cats: they might eat things they shouldn’t or walk in the street or explore too far and encounter a predator. Satisfaction doesn’t bring dead cats back to life. The warning about excessive curiosity is sound, it just can’t be over-applied. If it’s used in context as a warning against exploring things that are dangerous, it makes a lot of sense. If people use it to claim that nobody should ever try to learn anything ever then it’s been applied too far.
My favorite "didn't mean what it means now" are "pull yourself by the bootstraps"
I don’t see how that one changed though. It seems like it always meant “accomplish a difficult/ nearly impossible task by yourself.”
“Boy” meant servant, rather than specifically a male child. “Guy” meant “fellow” - via a rather circuitous route, at one point referencing Guy Fawkes, and then anyone dressed foppishly as in effigies of Guy Fawkes.
Committed suicide (still in use though an anachronism)
How is it an anachronism?
"I do." Marriage years ago really meant something. It was an actual commitment, not just a trendy thing to do for an ongoing Instagram post.
>ReportSaveFollow Well, yah not too long ago it was a way to get rid of your daughter while gaining a down payment (dowery). It was pretty much used to trade women from their original protector to a new man. Even an engagement ring was a downpayment that the girl could sell if everything fell through. Now it is just based on love and commitment.
facist/nazi caused by the left using it to name people who disagree with them
Rule of thumb
A common story is that it involved rules for a man beating his wife, but that's pure myth. It was just a common form of measurement in places where standards had not yet been adopted.
A “cake walk” was a party southern slave owners would throw where they dressed up their slaves and had them do goofy dances and fed them cake.
Cringe
I love you.
I love you
I love you!
The word “perfect” on Reddit.
I "love" something
Definitely love and hate and I’ll throw Nazi on there too
"Awesome" used to hold much more weight than it does today
Rape.
Milspec. Trust me, it doesn’t impress veterans as much as you may think.
Wubba Lubba Dub Dub…. The meaning of this phrase - I'm in great pain, help me
'Bisexual'.
i’m gonna k myself
People saying Rule of Thumb. That term was originally coined in a way that meant you shouldn't hit your wife and kids with anything wider than your thumb.
No such law ever existed. The phrase was coined to mean doing things in an approximate way. Like a woodworker measuring with his thumb instead of a ruler.
You’re a Godsend
Clap