Topic: What are some words or phrases you dislike?

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Selfie
Bae
Master
Masterful
Masticate
Macerate

May have said these before, also another word I hate, would be, well, non-slang for genitalia, like, for some reason hearing the technical terms for them irks me for some reason.

Same with the non-slang for jacking off, etc.

Updated by anonymous

United_Gamers said:
Sigh I am very likely to regret opening this can of worms, but what is wrong with gamer? It is nothing more then a simple descriptor denoting people who greatly enjoy playing games. Of which I(And the 4 others I share this account with.) fall under. And a label I wear with pride as well, along with nerd, and otaku.

Honestly, this could just as easily lead to unproductive and combative conversation, itself.

Ever since Gamergate, the label of "Gamer" has been tainted, for many, by the ghostly specter of humanity's worst instincts in the gender culture war. I don't blame them, Gamergate and the targeting of women by people who rallied under its flag was something that made the front page of the New York Times, above the goddamn fold. It was a pivotal moment of broad public concern.

Updated by anonymous

ikdind said:
Honestly, this could just as easily lead to unproductive and combative conversation, itself.

Ever since Gamergate, the label of "Gamer" has been tainted, for many, by the ghostly specter of humanity's worst instincts in the gender culture war. I don't blame them, Gamergate and the targeting of women by people who rallied under its flag was something that made the front page of the New York Times, above the goddamn fold. It was a pivotal moment of broad public concern.

Then what do you call people who play video games?

Updated by anonymous

fox_whisper85 said:
Then what do you call people who play video games?

I played games heavily for like 20 years. I think I stopped because there was just no way to make social connections with other gamers, mainly because of their general toxicity.

ikdind said:
Honestly, this could just as easily lead to unproductive and combative conversation, itself.

Ever since Gamergate, the label of "Gamer" has been tainted, for many, by the ghostly specter of humanity's worst instincts in the gender culture war. I don't blame them, Gamergate and the targeting of women by people who rallied under its flag was something that made the front page of the New York Times, above the goddamn fold. It was a pivotal moment of broad public concern.

Kinda this? Another big issue is gamers, as consumers, have no capability of critical reasoning with respect to making their hobby better. And you can't convince them to do otherwise. If something angers gamers, they just attack attack attack, with the most virulent kind of hostility. This kind of energy would be potentially useful if it weren't for the fact that it's just thoughtless violence that's just intended to relieve their emotional frustration rather than alter the conditions that created the problems that are the source of their anger.

The collective action of gamers as consumers is always an example of the worst kind of shooting the messenger. Their hobby will never improve because they actively make it worse, and if you tell them why they just start to attack you.

I've completely rebuked the title of 'gamer' as a descriptor of myself and honestly never used it.

One needn't be a 'gamer' anymore than someone who drinks a glass of wine once a month need be an 'alcoholic.'

Updated by anonymous

fox_whisper85 said:
Then what do you call people who play video games?

The devil-worship scare/mania from the 80s did not change what roleplayers called themselves, I don't see Gamergate changing the term used by gamers to identify themselves.

That being said...

At the very least, I feel part of the problem here is that "gamers" has become such a broad identifier, and the subculture has expanded so far into the mainstream, especially in younger audiences, that it merits subcategorization.

[Edit: Even the roleplaying community has started subdividing between the players who enjoy the tabletop combat rules and those who are into the improv and storytelling.]

I've lost the link, but there was an interesting opinion piece I ran into recently suggesting a fairly strong cultural divide between "sports jock gamers" of the sort that buy and play lots of multiplayer sports games and shooters, versus "drama nerd gamers" that play lots of single-player experiences. The author was lamenting how many third-party publishers have been focused on multiplayer experiences to drive software sales and retention, while platform makers are happily churning out single-player experiences that are actually selling their consoles when they're brand-new, and it's weird how third-parties seem to be failing to recognize how, at a cultural level, they are unlikely to capture both groups at once, even though they seem to be trying to market to both at once.

The idea that "gamer" is an overly broad description for hobbyists isn't that new, though I appreciate that the idea is starting to escape games business discussions and is entering the vox populi. But I would agree with anyone who expressed dismay that the cultural divides within gaming would be appropriately described through the language of high school society. Clearly, we have a lot of maturing to do, still.

iceink said:
Another big issue is gamers, as consumers, have no capability of critical reasoning with respect to making their hobby better. [...] If something angers gamers, they just attack attack attack, with the most virulent kind of hostility.
[...]
I've completely rebuked the title of 'gamer' as a descriptor of myself and honestly never used it.

I'm conscientious of what feelings the label may evoke, so I don't generally use the label proactively. I used to, but then Gamergate happened, and the shadow it cast upon my hobby was deeply troubling. In short, there's just too much baggage for my liking these days. Maybe in 20 years or so, I'll feel better about using it again.

However, I love videogames, from Skyrim to Oxygen Not Included, Overwatch to Overload. From the amount of time I spend playing games it would be hard to argue why the label should not apply to me. I've loved games my entire life. I guess all I can do, for my part, is continue to support efforts to make gaming more inclusive and welcoming.

[Edits: I need to stop proofreading and editing myself, now that I've posted. But I guess that just shows how much I do care.]

Updated by anonymous

Since I can't be sure my friends won't be logging on to our account and responding to this thread as well I am going to start Identifying myself as "Signal" just in case they should do so. Doubtful since they despise Forums and for good reason.

ikdind said:
Ever since Gamergate, the label of "Gamer" has been tainted, for many, by the ghostly specter of humanity's worst instincts in the gender culture war. I don't blame them, Gamergate and the targeting of women by people who rallied under its flag was something that made the front page of the New York Times, above the goddamn fold. It was a pivotal moment of broad public concern.

Then by that logic, Feminist should throw shade on Women simply because the Feminist movement has a number of bad actors. Now clearly that is not true but still someone can and does go that route simply because of reason like that.

iceink said:
I think I stopped because there was just no way to make social connections with other gamers,

Not so sure about that. Thats how me and my friends found each other. But then different people different strokes.

iceink said:
mainly because of their general toxicity.

Like every community or label doesn't have this? some may be worse or better then others sure, I mean seriously if thats the case then may as well leave it all alone pretty much.

iceink said:
Kinda this? Another big issue is gamers, as consumers, have no capability of critical reasoning with respect to making their hobby better. And you can't convince them to do otherwise.

Disagree but continue

iceink said:
If something angers gamers, they just attack attack attack, with the most virulent kind of hostility.

Same with other groups too. And those in that group rightfully point out that they are a vocal minority.

ikdind said:
I'm conscientious of what feelings the label may evoke, so I don't generally use the label proactively. I used to, but then Gamergate happened, and the shadow it cast upon my hobby was deeply troubling. In short, there's just too much baggage for my liking these days. Maybe in 20 years or so, I'll feel better about using it again.

Again I say all groups cast shade on their label, it really is just the choice of sticking out and try to improve it, or get away from it and let it rot.

ikdind said:
However, I love videogames, from Skyrim to Oxygen Not Included, Overwatch to Overload. From the amount of time I spend playing games it would be hard to argue why the label should not apply to me. I've loved games my entire life. I guess all I can do, for my part, is continue to support efforts to make gaming more inclusive and welcoming.

Good on ya, good attitude, and maybe hopefully you'll use the label gamer again and help build up a positive name for it again.

Updated by anonymous

United_Gamers said:
Then by that logic, Feminist should throw shade on Women simply because the Feminist movement has a number of bad actors. Now clearly that is not true but still someone can and does go that route simply because of reason like that.

I believe many women would find that argument very hurtful, and I am personally hurt that you would make that argument. It seems like volunteering into the "unproductive and quite combative conversation" that you seemed averse to a few posts ago.

I genuinely want you to explain why you believe Gamergate is analogous to feminism.

Updated by anonymous

ikdind said:
Honestly, this could just as easily lead to unproductive and combative conversation, itself.

Ever since Gamergate, the label of "Gamer" has been tainted, for many, by the ghostly specter of humanity's worst instincts in the gender culture war. I don't blame them, Gamergate and the targeting of women by people who rallied under its flag was something that made the front page of the New York Times, above the goddamn fold. It was a pivotal moment of broad public concern.

Jesus, I still don't know, to this day, what exactly Gamergate was about. I just have some vague idea of what it was.

Updated by anonymous

randomguy85 said:
Jesus, I still don't know, to this day, what exactly Gamergate was about. I just have some vague idea of what it was.

In general, there have been two camps on what Gamergate was about:

  • Protesting the often-incestuous nature of games media (criticism, reporting, enthusiast websites, etc) and games business (publishers, developers, blacklisting practices, etc).
  • Using the above as a veneer to harass and threaten prominent women in gaming culture, especially if they were active in or sympathetic towards feminist causes.

As to the facts behind Gamergate, as best as I've been able to assemble them: The firestorm started when a prominent female developer's ex-lover publicly accused her of cheating on him by sleeping with a reviewer in exchange for a positive review on her latest game.

This struck a nerve, because many members of the gaming press are invited to frequent, large parties hosted by publishers and developers, especially when they give positive reviews on prominent sites about games. They get a bunch of swag and other gratuities that are not made generally available to the public. Publishers also tend to favor sites that review their games well when dolling out advertisement funds, which directly support these reviewers. Enthusiasts are, understandably, mistrustful of this relationship.

Additionally, this developer had become especially noteworthy after releasing a fairly non-traditional game about emotional disability, which was covered by many of the major gaming press outlets, and additionally created some very minor discussions about whether something is a "game" unless it meets certain criteria.

In terms of Gamergate, however, what quickly overshadowed the "ethics in games journalism" issue was a pattern of increasing harassment of women, specifically by a group of people operating under the "Gamergate" flag. These people coordinated on 4chan, and had a "hit list" of women they sought to find, harass, and threaten.

Ultimately, the reporting of Gamergate was dominated by the harassment issue, both within gaming circles and in mass media.

This is why I feel "Gamer" has been tainted by the "Gamergate" label and no longer proactively describe myself with it: It would be like describing myself a "roleplayer" in the immediate aftermath of the religious mania in the 80's, where people were afraid that Dungeons and Dragons was being used as a vessel to promote devil worship. Whether or not Gamergate is representative of any statistically significant fraction of gamers is not the point. It's about how to be the best emissary for my hobby that I can be, for anyone who's interested in it.

As to the original accusations, the developer and the reviewer both denied the allegations, and the developer's ex-lover eventually released a statement that he had lied about the original accusations and he had only been lashing out after their breakup.

[Edits: I'm sorry, I keep editing myself again, because I keep re-reading and realizing there's something I can change to try and communicate more clearly.]

Updated by anonymous

United_Gamers said:
Then by that logic, Feminist should throw shade on Women simply because the Feminist movement has a number of bad actors. Now clearly that is not true but still someone can and does go that route simply because of reason like that.

This happens a very small scale [{small parts of the /b/ and /pol/ communities, caused some people to join the incel movement [btw I dislike the word "incel" because it got adapted to mean "a person I dislike" despite being a legitimate term for a fringe (100K memebers) group. Same thing with "SJW", "nazi", " fascist", "racist", etc. "Thanks" a lot twitter]} compared to how tainted the gamer label got only because negative information about feminism is way less accessible, and mainstream (breitbart is not mainstream) media never made statements that equated all women to the worst of the feminists.

Updated by anonymous

ikdind said:
I believe many women would find that argument very hurtful, and I am personally hurt that you would make that argument. It seems like volunteering into the "unproductive and quite combative conversation" that you seemed averse to a few posts ago.

I genuinely want you to explain why you believe Gamergate is analogous to feminism.

Gamma: Yeah Woman, and Feminist here. I don't find that hurtful I find it the Truth. I'll let Signal explain.

Signal: Trans woman, although not feminist.(Since apparently that is going to matter. Le sigh.)

At the core they are not. One is about games the other Rights for Women. But when we are talking about the members in this, both have bad actors. Some GamerGaters are sexist scumbags, some feminist are misandrist stains on the Feminist name.

Gamma: I can attest to this with firsthand experience.

Signal: (Yes I know the whole name before the sentence shtick looks like it roleplay I assure you and the Admins it is not. As I said this is a shared account among 5 people, and I knew the topic of discussing games would draw their attention.) So my argument is IF the bad actors in gamergate taint the name Gamer because only the negative and **** stains from that group are reported, Then the bad actors from ANY group should taint the name attached to them. This goes for Nerds, Otakus, Feminists, Christians, Atheists, ect.

And to be honest I really don't want to use that argument because. Well its bloody stupid.

Gamma: To tack on here Neither do I, As She said its stupid. And also I was also a GGer, no I don't want to talk to in-depth about that as another member of this account was and Anti-GGer and the last thing we need is the 2 of us yelling at eachother from the same account on a thread. Anyway to be fair it didn't help the grievance we(GG) had was with journalists, and therefore we destined to be slandered from the start.

That said Signal and I, and our other 3 friends all agree Gamer should not be a tainted a name and can be made to be an all inclusive name. Just need people to stick with it and be decent people.

[EDIT]

anormalpotato said:
This happens a very small scale [{small parts of the /b/ and /pol/ communities, caused some people to join the incel movement [btw I dislike the word "incel" because it got adapted to mean "a person I dislike" despite being a legitimate term for a fringe (100K memebers) group. Same thing with "SJW", "nazi", " fascist", "racist", etc. "Thanks" a lot twitter]} compared to how tainted the gamer label got only because negative information about feminism is way less accessible, and mainstream (breitbart is not mainstream) media never made statements that equated all women to the worst of the feminists.

Gamma: First no duh Breitbart is not mainstream. Hell even if it was would anyone other then someone with an agenda to push really read it?
Also you are currect. I mean holy shit 4chan got the fucking Okay hand sign labeled as fucking "White power" hand symbol "for the lols" and now its getting fucking banned left and right. What next the loser hand sign? The peace hand sign? Everything in sign language?

Signal: Sigh yes sadly bad actors everywhere are trying further the gap of discussion and cause more hate rather then build a bridge and help end some prejudices.

Updated by anonymous

iceink said:
It's more like MRAs don't do literally anything to advance men's rights, they just complain about it when women get the same rights that men already have.

Has nothing to do with having "the same rights." It seems as though whenever something comes up like how men make up 3/4 homeless and if there's a way to fix it, comments start pouring in about how it's not important, how women's problems are always worse, etc. I've seen a few cases of people trying to start up a men's shelter getting rape and death threats from women because to them, helping women is some kind of trickle down economics that helps men, but helping men somehow hurts women. That's why the gender divide seems to be growing, but it could just be that social media is a social cancer. The social climate is just geared towards seeing women's problems as society's problems, and therefore important, while men's problems are theirs alone, so they should shut up and deal with it themselves with no outside help. That's why people are getting fed up these days.

Updated by anonymous

United_Gamers said:
But when we are talking about the members in this, both have bad actors. Some GamerGaters are sexist scumbags, some feminist are misandrist stains on the Feminist name.
[...]
So my argument is IF the bad actors in gamergate taint the name Gamer because only the negative and **** stains from that group are reported, Then the bad actors from ANY group should taint the name attached to them.

This, I can understand and appreciate. I would acknowledge that I also feel the misandrists operating under the feminist label have damaged the image of feminism, though I feel the mainstream reporting of Gamergate has damaged the image of gamers much more.

I would suppose I feel the Gamergate scandal much more acutely, because I am also a part of that industry. And maybe I'm more willing to tolerate misandrist feminists because I'm aware of the discrimination and harassment women can face, and had to see many women whom I respect endure acute harassment when all I could have done to "help" was to be one more voice screaming in the datastream.

Also, I didn't take the comparison of "feminists" to "women" as meaning a comparison between "misandrist feminists" and "feminists at large". I hope that's understandable.

Updated by anonymous

Whenever I hear the word "chad," the first thing that comes to my mind is the 2000 United States presidential election. #graymuzzle

Updated by anonymous

CCoyote said:
Whenever I hear the word "chad," the first thing that comes to my mind is the 2000 United States presidential election. #graymuzzle

My first thought is Chad Dickson from Codename: Kids Next Door.

Updated by anonymous

Any sort of dialog in a comic where siblings end every sentence with ", bro" or ", sis." It's just super unnatural.

Updated by anonymous

BlueTibbit said:
Any sort of dialog in a comic where siblings end every sentence with ", bro" or ", sis." It's just super unnatural.

Well, I think it's hard to imply that these characters are siblings in a comic without directly stating it in the dialogue.

Updated by anonymous

SnowWolf

Former Staff

randomguy85 said:
Well, I think it's hard to imply that these characters are siblings in a comic without directly stating it in the dialogue.

This is so basically the opposite of true.

I can think of half a dozen different ways and I havn't had breakfast yet.

If it's "hard" to imply this., then the artist/writer's doing a poor job. part of story telling IS expressing stuff without spelling it all out.

This can range from, say, showing them both, teenagers, coming down and eating breakfast at the same table while mom makes breakfast to a family photo of mom, dad and both siblings as kids, to a *single* use of "bro" or "sis".... .... or some more natural dialog like "Ugh, you are the worst brother."

Or, y'know, show the relationship? siblings have very different relationships than lovers. a noogie and calling each other "dork" is not a typically "romantic" relationship indication.

If you have to rely on bro/sis every line, then you're doing something wrong.... or you're playing up the fetish aspect because you enjoy lines like "SIS! I'm going to....!"

Oh. Or you're reading a translation from a language--like Japanese, where the words for "brother" and "sister" are normal terms of address. (To clarify on that: English uses words like "aunt" and "grandma" to refer to certain people in your family. "Big sister" is a similar word.) A GOOD translator can make this dialog sound natural, while a less practiced one might use the words more frequently.

Updated by anonymous

BlueTibbit said:
Any sort of dialog in a comic where siblings end every sentence with ", bro" or ", sis." It's just super unnatural.

I blame anime/manga
They often use terms like onii-chan (older brother) which get translated to "bro" and that's probably where these artusts get the idea

Updated by anonymous

ikdind said:
though I feel the mainstream reporting of Gamergate has damaged the image of gamers much more.

Signal: I can understand that, and as my friend pointed out from her perspective, it didn't help anything that main opponent to GamerGate was journalist. Gaming journalist but journalist nonetheless.

ikdind said:
Also, I didn't take the comparison of "feminists" to "women" as meaning a comparison between "misandrist feminists" and "feminists at large". I hope that's understandable.

Fair I could have been much much more clear with what I said. But what can ya do when your only human eh?

Anyway I think this will be the last time I personally reply to this thread, I feel I have detracted from the main purpose of it long enough, plus feel like any further talk will will just delve into politics of it and I don't want to annoy the admins.

Updated by anonymous

iceink said:
If something angers gamers, they just attack attack attack, with the most virulent kind of hostility. This kind of energy would be potentially useful if it weren't for the fact that it's just thoughtless violence that's just intended to relieve their emotional frustration rather than alter the conditions that created the problems that are the source of their anger.

I'm an avid gamer, yet it's not a label I'm particularly proud of. Not because there's anything wrong with gaming, but because it associates me with a mass of truly awful people, that have only become more toxic with time (unless they've stayed the same and I've grown up ?).

For whatever reason (Immaturity ? Online meme culture ? Competitive nature of gaming ? Inferiority complex ? All of above ?) there's an extraordinary lack of empathy among most gamers. Go to any game site like IGN and every single top comment is either
1: Demanding the head of a reviewer/developper for any number of trivial reasons
2: Paranioa about anything they perceive as a threat to the "Straight White Male" (i.e. anything that isn't a straight white male, and then some)

I think the problem can be seen all the more prominently through the most popular streaming personalities in gaming. They're just... urgh.

Anyway the point I'm trying to make is that a huge portion (not all) of gaming culture is currently very toxic and unpleasant.

Updated by anonymous

Getting back on topic, I hate the words "selfie","Premium","Big [whatever]" (as in Big Data), and pretty much anything having to do with advertising or corporate speak.

For some more politically charged expressions, my idiot-alert goes off anytime I hear the keyword "unnatural" (in the context of morally condemning something). It's a stupid word to use when describing anything real since, by definition, anything that exists IS part of nature and therefore natural. What people REALLY mean when using "unnatural" to condemn something isn't "this goes against all known laws of physics" but "this goes against the will of my god/the customs I am used to and take for granted".

I usually know exactly what kind of person I'm dealing with anytime I hear "pushing their agenda" and "law abiding citizens".

Ps: Oh, and I forgot "Influencer". I really, really hate that word.

Updated by anonymous

Sharpfuzz said:
I'm a modern enlightened individual

Someone sure is secure in their perceptions. I agree with you 100% on corporate buzzwords and jabberwocky though. I did my time in Wal-Mart and other stores and the HR departments invariably fill me with a scarcely-contained loathing. As soon as one starts talking about synergy, paradigms, and "challenging the standard" I find it very hard to take seriously.

Updated by anonymous

Ratte

Former Staff

Sharpfuzz said:
Getting back on topic, I hate the words "selfie","Premium","Big [whatever]" (as in Big Data), and pretty much anything having to do with advertising or corporate speak.

big dick energy

Updated by anonymous

FurMaster69 said:
big mood

My Niece uses this all the time and I still don't understand what she's talking about. I don't like how people these days misuse the word "entitled"/using it as an insult, I never understood that. I am also not a fan of the term "fam" or "dank".

Updated by anonymous

Ratte

Former Staff

ninja_death_guy said:
My Niece uses this all the time and I still don't understand what she's talking about.

"this is very relatable and representative of how i currently feel."

Updated by anonymous

Sharpfuzz said:
For whatever reason (Immaturity ? Online meme culture ? Competitive nature of gaming ? Inferiority complex ? All of above ?) there's an extraordinary lack of empathy among most gamers.

Gamma:

Well if you looking at places like IGN or something similar then no wonder thats all you see. Gamers don't go there anymore and know that only really the trolls and other undesirables go there. Hell even the IGN site staff fall under that category now.
Truth be told you'd be better off watching gaming YT channels, especially ones that don't have a habit of deleting comments, you'll find a lot more reasonable, to an extent, people and much more welcome because they just wanna talk gaming.

Sharpfuzz said:
1: Demanding the head of a reviewer/developper for any number of trivial reasons

Again thats IGN. But look else where and it becomes more reasonable. Also depends on what you mean Trivial. It too broad to really get into, plus there are some things that look trivial but really arn't and Devs need to called out on it.

Sharpfuzz said:
2: Paranioa about anything they perceive as a threat to the "Straight White Male" (i.e. anything that isn't a straight white male, and then some)

Alright lets dig into this can of worms. Once again if places like IGN are where you find this stuff all you see are trolls.

Go on youtube on any video about the game in question, where they don't delete comments, and you'll see that these people talking about "Threats to Straight White Male" are actually talking about what caricatures the Gay and Trans, hell sometimes even Black and Women, characters have been made just to add em to the game, or show, or comic, "Because Representation!"

And I fucking agree with them, because sorry but a caricature of gay woman doesn't represent me, it makes me and other gay women look bad, you want to represent some of these people fine just write a good fucking character and have their status or sexuality be nothing more then passing remark, of course natural to the conversation.
And there you go you know they are Gay or trans, You can see they are women or black and they aren't a fucking head shacking caricature. Hint and not a spoiler beginning of Endgame did it and not one person other then the "Representation matters" lunatics said anything.
And yes I called them lunatics because they don't care about anything else other then having "Representation" in media, and they are the reason why I am made a damned Caricature!

Sorry to harp on that point so hard but FUCK every time I hear a phrase like "Oh because Straight White Men" pretty means no one cares that it makes gay's, Trans people, Black people, and woman look bad they just want to argue and insult.

Also yes I know there are genuine people out there that are haters and will complain about gay or trans characters even if they are written well but my experience has been they are far in the minority that in some cases it surprises me anyone runs into them.

Dusk_To_Dawn said:
There's certain words that just make people's skin crawl, like 'moist' or 'irregardless' and while I don't necessarily hate moist, I will admit that it's not a very pleasant word to hear.
I've got plenty of words I'm not to wild about and I'm sure you guys do as well, so why not share what they are? Feel free to explain why you dislike them.

Yeah. "straight white male" For reason above it doesn't add anything and almost always used as an insult or an attempt to derail conversation.

Also I probably just landed this account a red mark. Friends won't be happen but I needed to address that.

[EDIT]

Signal: Sorry about my friends behavior Just given her history the past few years she kinda feels the need to aggressively argue and overly explain her point. Some of which I can't say I entirely disagree with either. But still sorry about her ranting.

Updated by anonymous

Ratte

Former Staff

can we move on from the whiny identity politics bullshit thanks

Updated by anonymous

"cis" has always sounded stupid to me, probably because whenever the word is being used, it's being associated with negativity.

Any words like "incel" or "snowflake" just tossed around when you disagree with the person.

Sheeple. It just sounds stupid.

Updated by anonymous

Anyone who uses the word "Yikes" instead of taking at least more than 3 words to explain how they feel about a particular issue.

At least explain why they're upset over something. I doubt it's very easy for people to figure out why someone is upset with them when their only form of communication is "Yikes Yikes Oof Triple Yikes"

"Incel" and "Snowflake" are also very stupid terms that have now been twisted to mean "Person I don't like"

Updated by anonymous

TokaiTori said:
Anyone who uses the word "Yikes" instead of taking at least more than 3 words to explain how they feel about a particular issue.

It's become weirdly common to express opinions through really juvenile language. I think it sort of died out, but it used to be common to call things "icky" which is pretty much baby-talk. I don't know how anyone could take that kind of thing seriously.

"Incel" and "Snowflake" are also very stupid terms that have now been twisted to mean "Person I don't like"

My favorite is that people are somehow calling Notch an incel

I get why people disagree with him, but there is absolutely no meaning of the term that could possibly apply to him. Incel lost its meaning remarkably fast

Updated by anonymous

SnowWolf

Former Staff

TokaiTori said:
Anyone who uses the word "Yikes" instead of taking at least more than 3 words to explain how they feel about a particular issue.

At least explain why they're upset over something. I doubt it's very easy for people to figure out why someone is upset with them when their only form of communication is "Yikes Yikes Oof Triple Yikes"

Yikes forever.

I mean, there is some reasoning behind what you're saying... but, like... people don't HAVE to explain WHY they feel a certain way to you. (especially if the medium in which they're communicating is a PERSONAL form of social media where they well might just be venting a bit of frustration without wanting to get into the whoel thing.) (in other cases you might be missing context. On twitter, people will commonly retweet something, then in a complete separate tweet comment on it so that it's not attached to the retweeted tweet directly.)

In other cases, it may be an invitation to ask "yikes what?" much as a sigh or an "ugh." or a dramatic flop onto the couch, or what have you might. People LIKE it when others express concern about their well being, and express interest in them personally. It's kind of part of our default social scripts. You express unhappiness, your friends notice and query, because they care, and you explain.

"Incel" and "Snowflake" are also very stupid terms that have now been twisted to mean "Person I don't like"

They have a bit of secondary subtext, I think. Incel is more "entitled (and probably misanthropic) man-jerk" and Snowflake is "person who's feelings are easily bruised."

That said, to my perspective... incel is being expanded to refer to people of a certain spectrum of generally negative attitudes, while Snowflake is being reclaimed by the original "snowflakes" and used as a weapon back against those who originally coined the term. Who the term is being used on and it what context can tell you a lot about the person using it, which is pretty interesting.

XXXFentacion said:
It's become weirdly common to express opinions through really juvenile language.

Teenagers tend to guide the formation of slang and and help shape the basic level of linguistic shift that our language is always undergoing. "Problem" is, these days everyone's on the internet, so the rate of change is going pretty quickly.

The modern trend leans towards expressiveness over stoicism, as well as (via text) using grammatical choices and punctuation in unconventional ways to indicate more nuanced emotion, and tone of voice. Kids are generally more verbal about their feelings than adults are, so there's an inclination towards being "juvenile" while being particularly expressive.

Also, as we get older, the harder it becomes to get 'with' the kids'

I think it sort of died out, but it used to be common to call things "icky" which is pretty much baby-talk.

Only if you regard it that way. I mean. Language evolves. "Cool" at one point meant something chilly. Now, it also means something else. "snowflake" once meant a flake of frozen water. Now, it also means something else. Ethyl and Martha were once fasionable baby names. Now, not so much.

Icky WAS baby talk. but now it isn't.

And it's a great word to describe something that is kind of gross, in a sticky, kind of want to wash your hands sort of way. Or in a "mild but not too bad sort of way." Moderately gross.

I don't know how anyone could take that kind of thing seriously.

Because linguistics are cool! It's exciting to see how people latch on to new ideas and how they evolve. And also, it's not meant to be a serious dissertation: Most people are just talking to communicate.

My favorite is that people are somehow calling Notch an incel

I get why people disagree with him, but there is absolutely no meaning of the term that could possibly apply to him. Incel lost its meaning remarkably fast

You're still stuck on the original meaning.

Notch fits the 'revised' incel definition pretty well. The amount of sex he's having doesn't play into it.

This evolution of language isn't always a good thing, of course.

The word "trigger" is a pretty good example of this.

A "trigger" is a form of psychological stimulus that prompts recall of a previous traumatic experience.

The most well known example is the war veteran who has a bad reaction to fireworks.

It's a common psychological response to a form of trauma. the bad reaction isn't just "oh no, I'm remembering the war..." it's more of a Pavlovian response: Fight or flight can activate. Adrenaline can surge. memories can arise and potentially become overwhemling. Emotions can flood in and become overwhelming.

Now: The veteran and his fireworks are an easy example. I have a friend who has a very bad reaction when the wind kicks up in a certain way. Why? Because a tree fell on her house and nearly killed her and her family. I know of another person who has a bad reaction to Old Spice because that was what her rapist wore. Another friend can't interact with my husband when he's in a bad mood because he has some of the "same energy" as his abusive father had.

And this kinda shit is bad. No one wants to break down into tears on the subway because a dude with Old Spice on bumped into them, or because a friend looked at you. (yes, that happened. Everyone felt very bad about it.)

The way to deal with triggers is usually through careful exposure to the things that trigger you. Keyword being careful. That means, for example, being in a safe place when you're dealing with your old spice, not on a street at 10pm.

This is why trigger warnings are a big deal. It allows someone to prepare themselves for a potentially triggering event, or avoid it, if needed. (For example, "I have an important meeting/job interview/finals/fun concert/other important thing later, so I'm going to take an uber instead of the subway.")

Yet...

when someone says "OMG TRIGGER WARNING" because someone posted a compilation of unsatisfying gifs ...

.... It's not just that the word/s have been used for another purpose. it's that most people don't even realize that there was an different definition before. And now, no one can refer to somethign that triggers them without having to clarify that, yes, it is a real actually distressing thing, not a meme trigger.

I think I've wandered a while, sorry. Hi. Thank you for reading. There's no real point to this. I think language is neat.

Updated by anonymous

SnowWolf said:
I think I've wandered a while, sorry. Hi. Thank you for reading. There's no real point to this. I think language is neat.

Language is neat. I was fascinated by that slang list that was compiled by a high school teacher, that's recently been reported on for going viral. Is that all real? Or to what extent may his students have been trolling him? Are we going to start seeing terms like "shlitty" and expressions like "big jokes" routinely appear in comments over the next several years? Is "snack" being treated as an adjective ("That girl is snack") or a noun ("That guy's a snack")?

That said, I would probably frown upon "shlitty". Like, can't we pick a Rick and Morty phrase, instead, like "shwifty", instead of a term that sounds intentionally chosen to be phonetically adjacent to cursing? But then, I suppose the edgy "look I'm not actually swearing, though I kind of am" element was part of the point.

After all, cussing can be fun. In the proper context.

Updated by anonymous

Another word I don't like: BAWWW

What the fuck are you doing? Are you trying to imitate a dying chicken? In what way does this resemble a noise a human would make?

Updated by anonymous

FurLurker said:
I fucking hate it when people use the word underrated instead of underappreciated or overlooked when talking about a game, show, song, etc. I am not a native english speaker but underrated sounds like the thing that is being described is bad or inferior.

I think it's meant for things that are great but aren't treated as such. Likely they were forgotten or didn't get the attention/praise the speaker believes it deserves.

Updated by anonymous

This is more of a multilingual thing, but here in Poland people tend to mix in English words in Polish phrases, and I'm not talking about direct translations (like I sometimes do), just straight up shoving in an English word in a Polish sentence. Recently it even happened in MSM with the word "hate". We have plenty of our own words that can be used, but no, let's use macaronics instead, because somehow that's trendy and cool, even though it isn't.

Updated by anonymous

Frothy, bawling, using bruh in every sentence, the same goes for "like"

Girls group: "Like totally, Jenny was as like at the mall and like here comes that dreamboat Ethan. Like OMG. He's like totes dreamy. Defs gonna follow on like Insta or something."

Boys group: "Bruh, bruh, bruh, bruh"

emoji spamming, biznatch, skeet, totes, bungalow, doily

Not so much hate as I am annoyed at literally any YT commercial that you hear too many goddamn times

"Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody!"

"ARBYS, WE HAVE THE MEATS!"

No, im not thinking Arby's if you keep trying to shove adverts down my throat.

Updated by anonymous

PheagleAdler said:
I think it's meant for things that are great but aren't treated as such. Likely they were forgotten or didn't get the attention/praise the speaker believes it deserves.

You're right it is used for that, its just that personally i really don't like how putting the words under + rated makes it sound more like "this thing is inferior to that thing" because one of the definitions of rate/rated is to evaluate, which means to judge the quality of something.
I feel like i kinda sounded too angry on that post lol, i don't hate the word as much now but i still don't like using it imo.

Updated by anonymous

FurLurker said:
You're right it is used for that, its just that personally i really don't like how putting the words under + rated makes it sound more like "this thing is inferior to that thing" because one of the definitions of rate/rated is to evaluate, which means to judge the quality of something.

That kinda seems to be what it's meant as, to me. To say something is underrated means that the thing is generally considered to have inferior quality (poorly sold, poorly reviewed) than you think it really deserves. In some cases it's due to having a niche target and the general public just doesn't "get it", in other cases it's because it didn't reach a wide enough audience so it never found its target audience, and other times it's because perspective and understanding changes over time so people didn't recognize what it offered before.

To say something is under-appreciated is to say it's under-rated, although the reverse isn't necessarily true (you can rate something poorly even if you greatly appreciate what it was trying to do, while it's unlikely you'll rate something highly if you don't appreciate it).

Updated by anonymous

Watsit said:
That kinda seems to be what it's meant as, to me. To say something is underrated means that the thing is generally considered to have inferior quality (poorly sold, poorly reviewed) than you think it really deserves. In some cases it's due to having a niche target and the general public just doesn't "get it", in other cases it's because it didn't reach a wide enough audience so it never found its target audience, and other times it's because perspective and understanding changes over time so people didn't recognize what it offered before.

To say something is under-appreciated is to say it's under-rated, although the reverse isn't necessarily true (you can rate something poorly even if you greatly appreciate what it was trying to do, while it's unlikely you'll rate something highly if you don't appreciate it).

I never saw it this way, thanks for letting me know, i've actually been warming up to using the word now because i also came to the realization that by my logic saying something is overrated wouldn't work as well.

Updated by anonymous

When people use the word "random" to describe things that are not random. Anyway English is my second language. I study abroad and I have to use a little help of affordable paper writing service to get good grades in Ensligh. These guys helped me a lot.

Updated

Vulgarity, obscenity, foul language. Alas, this is probably half of any language.

Using till instead of 'til as a contraction of until.

"feminist(s)"
"X is a slur"
"Andromorph"
"intersex"
"front hole"
"boy pussy"
"Yikes!"
Gay sex being called 'breeding'

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