Tag: etymology

The changing connotations of words isn’t a small issue

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MANY HUMANS SAID

‘This is ridiculous’. As well as a plethora of other boorish things.

I don’t understand what this person is doing wrong here. The question is a valid one: if you are trying not to be a jerk inadvertently, does it matter if a word that sounds offensive has an etymology that isn’t?

In the real world, racists use nigg* words regularly to express and signal their racism, from otherwise made-up terms to ones like niggardly, chosen solely because of its resemblance to the slur.

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50 Shades of Week: Feb. 12 – 19, 2017

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If you feel the need to demonstrate how much you own another person, you probably don’t own them as much as you think.

And if your attraction to another person is the same as showing you can provide them a nice vehicle, you’re really more attracted to the status those things give you than anything particular to them.

  1. Holy shit.
  2. ‘There’s a very fine line between pleasure and pain, Anastasia.’
  3. ‘Would you now, Miss Steele?’
  4. ‘It’s taking all my self-control not to fuck you on the hood of this car right now, just to show you that you are mine, and if I want to buy you a fucking car, I’ll buy you a fucking car,’ he growls.
  5. I smile.
  6. Some Boy Scout he must have been to learn this knot.
  7. Crap … some unguarded remark while dreaming about him, I bet.

50 Shades of Week: Jan. 8-14, 2017

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‘The internal creation of meaning allows its discovery even in places that don’t seem initially to warrant it.’

  1. ‘Anastasia,’ he warns, and I want to roll my eyes but quickly stop myself.
  2. ‘The NDA has been e-mailed to you, Mr. Grey.’
  3. ‘Come.’
  4. ‘The NDA, does it cover everything?’ I ask tentatively.
  5. The day drags at Clayton’s even though we’re busy.
  6. I scowl at her but can’t keep a straight face.
  7. ‘I have one condition.’