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Picture of zmježd
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Sometimes, words do become dangerous—because of the bad uses they are put to. Consider the word occupy: the OED traces the word to the fourteenth century but says:
quote:
The disuse of this verb in the 17th and most of the 18th c[entury] is notable. Against 104 quot[e]s for 16th c[entury], we have for 17th only 8, outside the Bible of 1611 (where it occurs 10 times), and for the 18th c[entury] only 10 ... The word occurs only twice (equivocally) in Shakes[peare], is entirely absent from the Concordance to Milton and Pope, is not used by Gray; all Johnson's quot[e]s, exc[ept] 2, are from the Bible of 1611. It was again freely used by Cowper (13 instances in the Concordance). This avoidance appears to have been due to its vulgar employment.
From the late fifteenth century until the beginning of the eighteenth, occupy was a euphemism: to occupy someone meant to have sex with them. This is kind of a nice euphemism, as a metaphor for the way troops occupy a town after a battle, sometimes without a struggle. When the word stopped being used to mean sex, it came back into use again—its meaning unchanged, and the language unharmed. Remember to tell your friends about the verb occupy when they complain about gay being ruined forever because it is now used to mean "homosexual." [Jim Quinn. American Tongue and Cheek, pp.92f.]
[Fixed name of book and typo.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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Very interesting, z. There are lots of euphemisms for sex, aren't there?
 
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Well, good, if I just wait a couple hundred years I can quit bitching about "gay" being ripped off by homosexuals. Big Grin But seriously, I wonder whether "know" suffered a fate similar to "occupy," since it too was a sexual term in days of yore.


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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being ripped off

But neither gay nor occupy lost their original primary meanings, it's just that writer did not want the titters associated with their extended meanings.


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This dirty talk is making me nervous
 
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Hmmmm... American Tongue in Cheek sounds like giving a rim job. Eek

Another term that's changed from nonsexual to sexual is "rape." Earlier is was theft or kidnapping, then generalized atrocity, as in the
Rape of Nanking, but extended to mean theft of one's private anatomical space. I guess the sense of unwanted violation pervades all its permutations, though.


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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but extended to mean theft of one's private anatomical space

Which is actually more like borrowing since nothing is actually absconded with.
 
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One's privacy is stolen. One's sense of security is stolen.


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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One's privacy is stolen. One's sense of security is stolen

That's not anatomical
 
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That's not anatomical

If and when you get raped, get back to me, okay?


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"gay" being ripped off by homosexuals.
Ah. And how was ripped off ripped off? According to the OED, it is U.S. slang (figures) and here is their first citation of its use:
quote:
1970 Manch. Guardian Weekly 2 May 16/4 ‘Who do you have on Haight Street today?’ he [sc. a San Francisco drug peddler] said disgustedly... ‘You have burn artists (fraudulent dope peddlers), rip-offs (thieves), and snitchers (police spies).’ 1971 Rolling Stone 24 June 8/3, I call them rip-offs, and they are, nothing but pirates and vultures.
 
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If it's US, why was it referenced in the Manchester Guardian?


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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The Grauniad is quoting a drug dealer in San Francisco, though, and provides glosses.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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If and when you get raped, get back to me, okay?

I was discussing the linguistic aspect, not the moral or personal conditions.
 
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