Language is a powerful tool of expression and communication that evolves over time. However, within this growth lies an unfortunate reality—the gradual erosion of meaning from once vibrant and significant words. In this thought-provoking investigation, we delve into the troubling journey through words that have lost their depth and resonance, leaving behind only hollowness and void.
Premium
“I’ve seen quite a few companies slap the ‘premium’ label on products to dance around the fact that it’s just the generic, base model of whatever the product is. This is also obviously a generalization and not always the case.”
Exponential
“As far as I can tell, most people seem to think it means ‘a lot’.”
“‘Exponential’ either means ‘a lot’ or ‘something that grows faster than proportionally.’”
POV (Point of View)
“Teenagers on TikTok have ruined ‘POV’.”
“Not ruined it. They’ve completely obliterated it past the point of no return.”
Literally
“People who misuse the word literally drive me figuratively insane.”
“Hate when people misuse words, makes me feel so circumvent…”
Hero
“Saw this one this weekend at a sporting event that honored a ‘hero of the week’ or something like that. The man was a policeman. No context beyond that. Without diving into any opinions around police, I’ve never believed that simply being a cop or soldier or whoever makes you a hero by default.”
Gaslighting
“So many times online, I see stories about someone’s SO who lied (or made an unintentionally false statement) and the comments are saying he’s gaslighting the poster. ‘Gaslighting’ has meaning, it’s not just a synonym for ‘deception.’”
Various Clinical Terms
“OCD: Upset by [a] crooked picture on a wall or spouse left a sock on the bedroom floor.”
“Cognitive dissonance is another one. So many people use it to mean a contradiction or hypocrite.”
Antisocial
“Antisocial doesn’t mean you don’t like socializing. It means you kick puppies and light stuff on fire. The term you’re looking for is asocial.”
“Of all the misused psychological terms, this one grinds my gears the most. Antisocial behavior is a person who brings grave harm to others without remorse.”
Superlatives
“When even the smallest headlines make things way bigger than they are, they lose the ability to describe something actually big.
Like, a headline from last year: ‘All of the eras have come to an end.’ The story: a sports team lost.”
High Pain Tolerance
“Every single time someone in the hospital says that they have a high pain tolerance, they end up being the opposite.”
“For most women, it’s the other way around. We get told we’re whiny and fragile until we find out that, nope, we’re not. Our pain just doesn’t get treated as seriously.”
Truth
“‘My truth’ is just ‘my opinion,’ otherwise, it would be ‘The Truth’.”
“I remember hearing during a criminal trial that both sides spoke their truth. No, they didn’t. One of them was lying or completely mistaken.”
Woke
“For a very short time, I remember people were calling themselves woke, like something you desire to be. It quickly became something you called someone. Now it’s an insult.”
“The whole time I kept hearing this word, I had no idea wtf it meant and was too afraid to ask. As soon as I thought I understood it, it would be used in a new context, demonstrating I still don’t get it.”
Trauma
“There are lots of people out there who have really experienced trauma. But it seems like the majority of people use it because something minor happened in their life and now they strongly dislike that thing.”
National Socialism
“National Socialism, that used to mean something pretty seriously bad, but now it’s thrown out like confetti. I don’t think it’s [a] very healthy way of looking at things if you see literal SS-troops goose-stepping all around you, all the time.”
Thoughts & Prayers
“I think that always meant that someone just wanted to feel good about helping without helping.”
“It’s weird how this effectively means less than either ‘thoughts’ or ‘prayers’.”
Racist
“I got called racist for saying bro once. Also got called racist during a business meeting for referring to a Nepalese customer as Asian. Apparently, ‘Asian’ is a slur now.”
“I was discussing Native American tribes. I was told I was racist because only Africans have tribes.”
Thick
“People will be 100+ pounds overweight and call themselves ‘thick.’ No, you are just morbidly obese.”
Debate
“We no longer have debates in this country (or other places). Now we just holler and scream at each other, and we can never reach conclusions (or compromise (another word [that’s] losing its meaning)).”
Epic
“Greek tales of heroes and dragons were epics, and the feats they performed were epic in come skaters and everything is epic and no one values just how epic ‘epic’ is.”
Body Positivity
“Now it’s gotten hijacked by mostly obese women that stay in their own bubble calling each other beautiful and healthy, completely refusing to accept hard facts about what obesity causes.
They’ll also witch-hunt anyone who dares to lose weight. For example, Adele and Rebel Wilson.”
Cult
Whenever there’s a post about cults, people just say religion or whatever political party they dislike. A cult is a small group of people led by a self-appointed oppressive and tyrannical leader who practices extreme, abnormal, and dangerous beliefs.
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OBSOLETE MILLENNIALS: 14 SKILLS THEY LEARNED IN THE 90S THAT HAVE NO PLACE IN TODAY’S WORLD
A lot has changed since the turn of the century – just ask this nostalgic lot!
OBSOLETE MILLENNIALS: 14 SKILLS THEY LEARNED IN THE 90S THAT HAVE NO PLACE IN TODAY’S WORLD
THE FALL FROM GRACE: 12 PROFESSIONS THAT WERE ONCE REVERED, NOW A TOTAL JOKE
These 12 professions that are now obsolete show how much the times have changed.
THE FALL FROM GRACE: 12 PROFESSIONS THAT WERE ONCE REVERED, NOW A TOTAL JOKE
FROM ‘OKAY BOOMER’ TO ‘UGH BOOMER’: 10 HABITS THAT IRRITATE MILLENNIALS
Each generation has its quirks. Most label it as an “old person thing” when asked why grandpa or grandma does something unusual. The defense from the other side is that “it was the way things were back in our day.”
FROM ‘OKAY BOOMER’ TO ‘UGH BOOMER’: 10 HABITS THAT IRRITATE MILLENNIALS
