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Quote by: Strange Dreamer Thus, in addition to asking your opinion on this issue...
...I also ask when will they realize that they are not binging themselves up, but instead dragging other things down? |
My opinion on this issue is that it's a pathetic, bigoted whine that people who should "know their place" have had the uppity audacity to re-define themselves. Or should we go back to calling African-Americans 'Negroes' and 'coloreds'?
Besides, english took on a life of its own when I found out that two centuries ago, 'awful' meant exactly what it sounds like it should mean... "full of awe". Amazing or awesome. If meanings like that can flip 180, who am I to complain about the dynamics of language.
To your second point, if people who have traditionally been persecuted and discriminated against, treated as 2nd class citizens or worse, want to break out of that role and re-define themselves in terms free from the baggage of old stereotypes, then more power to them.
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Quote by: Maryjane Let's take the word cracker. Does the "average person" think saltine or Ritz? |
Which, of course, leads to a whole 'nuther chapter in language, the consumer usurpation of trademarks. Both Saltine and Ritz are product trade names. Same with Kleenex, Frigidaire, Band-aid, Dumpster, Jello, Chapstick and many others.
I daresay the owners of those trademarks are more vexed about language than anyone here.
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