roscoe said
I don't understand the need to subvert the meaning of words that had no sexual meaning. Is it due to being ashamed of the real term?
I agree.
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Agracier said
There is no actual need to subvert or rather change the meaning of words. It simply happens naturally because languages evolve and change by nature, just as society changes and evolves. No one mandates a change in how words are defined, that happens by consensus over time, bit by bit, sort of like a virus spreading in a given population.
What incenses some people nowadays, is often the speed with which words change meaning. They can't always keep up. Which is not that surprising given the speed with which communications technology has developed and the vast numbers of people which it can reach.
And since society is also constantly evolving and changing, words are needed to express those changes more accurately. Either new words come into existence - which seems to be a more difficult process - or else people start to use existing words and giving them a slightly different meaning. If this happens often enough, then words really do assume quite different meanings than originally.
You and I have discussed this in the forum and also in PMs a few years ago as I recall.
Language definitely becomes subverted and corrupted and should NOT change the meaning or add meanings to words. It really has nothing to do with evolution. People are LAZY and don't want to expend effort to create a new word to describe things. Why bastardize a perfectly good word by giving it a meaning that has nothing to do with the meaning the word had when it was created. Worse yet, the "evolution", actually corruption of the language has caused some words to have completely opposite meaning to their original one.
I am bisexual and engage in homosexual activity so read the following knowing that I include myself here:
If Homosexuals don't like or are afraid of that word (or any other group that doesn't like the real word that describes them), make a new word and see if it catches on. WHY do Homosexuals need a euphemism to describe their orientation?????
For some reason Bisexuals have not seen the need to make a euphemism for their orientation. Likewise for Heterosexuals.
I am pretty certain I know the answer and they don't want to admit it.