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I'm posting this thread here in the hope that it will avoid the partisan, over-the-top, not-related-to-the-topic posts these words most often engender. So, here's holding out hope:
Words are tools. They are the method we have to communicate with each other and to exchange meaning. At the same time, words change over time. The process is called by various terms: Semantic change, semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift.
Part of the reason there are so many descriptions is that there are a variety of reasons why words change meaning. It might be natural (drift) or deliberate (shift). Often it is the result of irony - awful is no longer awe - full (awesome having taken its place), but its opposite. Similarly: Terrific (no longer terror inspiring); Nice, which originally meant foolish or frivolous - okay, sometimes it still does; Demagogue - which did not originally connote a negative characteristic. Linguists trace etymology of terms, and hobbyists, like me, find the process fascinating. Sometimes homonyms marry, sometimes similar words take on separate meanings.
Four common types of change are broadening, narrowing, amelioration, and pejoration. How the Meanings of Words Change (ThoughtCo). Sometimes changing a word's "meaning" can result in it losing relevance. That's silly. No, I mean that literally.
"What's worth keeping in mind is that meanings don't change over night. Different meanings of the same word often overlap, and new meanings can co-exist with older meanings for centuries. In linguistic terms, polysemy [the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings] is the rule, not the exception.
"Words are by nature incurably fuzzy," says linguist Jean Aitchison in the book Language Change: Progress Or Decay. In recent years, the adverb literally has become exceptionally fuzzy. In fact, it has slipped into the rare category of Janus words, joining terms like sanction, bolt, and fix that contain opposite or contradictory meanings."
But, often in our current in our current environment, changes in "meaning" are deliberate and political - Diversity, Equity, Gender - and used to outmaneuver the opposition rhetorically. Change in the Meaning of Words Demands Care in the Use of Language (Poynter). "such change in meaning is all around us, influenced by social, political, religious, economic and technological forces. Many words we use every day meant something quite different 10, 100 or 1,000 years ago." Or - even ten. "Words are often weapons in culture wars wielded by ideologues to gain the high ground in argument, debate, policy and propaganda. In the post-Reagan era, conservative politicians worked to redefine the word “liberal” so that it moved from a neutral to a negative meaning. So the warring sides in the abortion debate see words like “choice” or “life” as positive or negative, depending upon their positions. Or, as has often been noted in describing the violent politics of the Middle East: “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
I remember when being in the “mainstream” meant something good: “The prevailing current of thought, influence or activity.” Used as an adjective to describe the news media, “mainstream” has taken on a somewhat pejorative connotation, especially when employed by critics from the right or left."
And that brings me to the Topic words: Antisemitism and Zionism. These two words are bandied about (with abandon), but are fraught for a number of reasons, principally, context.
(More to follow)
Words are tools. They are the method we have to communicate with each other and to exchange meaning. At the same time, words change over time. The process is called by various terms: Semantic change, semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift.
Part of the reason there are so many descriptions is that there are a variety of reasons why words change meaning. It might be natural (drift) or deliberate (shift). Often it is the result of irony - awful is no longer awe - full (awesome having taken its place), but its opposite. Similarly: Terrific (no longer terror inspiring); Nice, which originally meant foolish or frivolous - okay, sometimes it still does; Demagogue - which did not originally connote a negative characteristic. Linguists trace etymology of terms, and hobbyists, like me, find the process fascinating. Sometimes homonyms marry, sometimes similar words take on separate meanings.
Four common types of change are broadening, narrowing, amelioration, and pejoration. How the Meanings of Words Change (ThoughtCo). Sometimes changing a word's "meaning" can result in it losing relevance. That's silly. No, I mean that literally.
"What's worth keeping in mind is that meanings don't change over night. Different meanings of the same word often overlap, and new meanings can co-exist with older meanings for centuries. In linguistic terms, polysemy [the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings] is the rule, not the exception.
"Words are by nature incurably fuzzy," says linguist Jean Aitchison in the book Language Change: Progress Or Decay. In recent years, the adverb literally has become exceptionally fuzzy. In fact, it has slipped into the rare category of Janus words, joining terms like sanction, bolt, and fix that contain opposite or contradictory meanings."
But, often in our current in our current environment, changes in "meaning" are deliberate and political - Diversity, Equity, Gender - and used to outmaneuver the opposition rhetorically. Change in the Meaning of Words Demands Care in the Use of Language (Poynter). "such change in meaning is all around us, influenced by social, political, religious, economic and technological forces. Many words we use every day meant something quite different 10, 100 or 1,000 years ago." Or - even ten. "Words are often weapons in culture wars wielded by ideologues to gain the high ground in argument, debate, policy and propaganda. In the post-Reagan era, conservative politicians worked to redefine the word “liberal” so that it moved from a neutral to a negative meaning. So the warring sides in the abortion debate see words like “choice” or “life” as positive or negative, depending upon their positions. Or, as has often been noted in describing the violent politics of the Middle East: “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
I remember when being in the “mainstream” meant something good: “The prevailing current of thought, influence or activity.” Used as an adjective to describe the news media, “mainstream” has taken on a somewhat pejorative connotation, especially when employed by critics from the right or left."
And that brings me to the Topic words: Antisemitism and Zionism. These two words are bandied about (with abandon), but are fraught for a number of reasons, principally, context.
(More to follow)