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I've heard this referred to as the euphemism treadmill. I've also witnessed "mentally challenged" or "intellectually disabled". As well as "slow", but that predates me a bit. Historically, "idiot", "Moron", and "stupid" were clinical terms, but they got co-opted by the general public and doctors had to move on to fresh terrain.

It looks like "cretin", "Amentia", and "mongoloid" are on that list.

All in all this system of constantly abandoning terminology and pretending a new term with the exact same meaning is somehow better is... quite nice.

"Strawman, whataboutism?"

Agreed.

"Hypocrite"

Trump ?

"from Attic Greek hypokrisis "acting on the stage; pretense", metaphorically, "hypocrisy", from hypokrinesthai "play a part, pretend"

https://www.etymonline.com/wor...

BeauHD, a different A/C here. Not sure what you're on about, but it would at least seem that there is at least some truth in what was said about the etymology of the term "cretin". See here and here (note the caveat)

And despite what you think about Jesus, he did not bring unity to the world. The messiah is supposed to lead us into the kingdom of g0d. Why does this seem no different than the world prior to that time, just with more technology and more people? He didn't do that part of the messiah deal either.

Dude -- you're arguing that a complex/old word has a simple meaning. This is almost never true. What you' mean is "My Daddy always said" which really is only relevant to you, but would make your response interesting, as opposed to just wrong.

https://www.etymonline.com/wor... ...

respect (v.)

1540s, "to regard," from Middle French respecter "look back; respect; delay," from Latin respectere, frequentative of respicere "look back at, regard, consider," from re- "back" (see re-) + specere "look at" (from PIE root *spek- "to observe").

Meaning "treat with deferential regard or esteem" is from 1550s. Sense of "refrain from injuring" is from 1620s. Meaning "have reference to" is from 1560s. Related: Respected; respecting. To respect the person was "show undue bias toward (or against) based on regard for the outward circumstances of a person;" hence respecter of persons, usually with negative, from Acts x:34, in the 1611 translation.

Lots of words are used for multiple meanings and lots of words change meanings over the years. Check out the entomology of "nice", https://www.etymonline.com/sea... and gay no longer means a female prostitute or even happy.
Many Western nations are actually Democratic Monarchies. Republic, Head of State is a President or such. Monarchy, head of State is a King or such is how I was taught in school. Here the Queen (actually her Representative) is basically a rubber stamp though in theory she has a lot of power and is above the law, as She is the law.

https://www.etymonline.com/wor...

assassin (n.)

1530s (in Anglo-Latin from mid-13c.), via French and Italian, from Arabic hashishiyyin "hashish-users," plural of hashishiyy, from the source of hashish (q.v.).

A fanatical Ismaili Muslim sect of the mountains of Lebanon in the time of the Crusades, under leadership of the "Old Man of the Mountains" (translates Arabic shaik-al-jibal, name applied to Hasan ibu-al-Sabbah), they had a reputation for murdering opposing leaders after intoxicating themselves by eating hashish. The plural suffix -in was mistaken in Europe for part of the word (compare Bedouin). Middle English had the word as hassais (mid-14c.), from Old French hassasis, assasis, which is from the Arabic word.

You are confusing etymology with historical accuracy.

Yes, it fucking does.

1545–55; < Latin specis appearance, form, sort, kind, equivalent to spec(ere) to look, regard + -is abstract noun suffix

late 14c. as a classification in logic, from Latin species "a particular sort, kind, or type" (opposed to genus), originally "a sight, look, view, appearance,"

Of milk-like plant juices from late 14c. Milk chocolate (chocolate made with milk solids, paler and sweeter) is first recorded 1723; milk shake is first recorded 1889, for a variety of creations, but the modern version is only from the 1930s. Milk tooth (1727) uses the word in its figurative sense "period of infancy," attested from 17c. To cry over spilt milk is first attested 1836 in writing of Canadian humorist Thomas C. Haliburton. Milk and honey is from the Old Testament phrase describing the richness of the Promised Land (Numbers xvi.13, Old English meolc and hunie). Milk of human kindness is from "Macbeth" (1605).

https://www.etymonline.com/wor...

Last I checked, "hack" was far older than computers. Older, even, than ingenuity.
  https://www.etymonline.com/sea...
https://www.etymonline.com/wor...

chopping wood, coughing, routine work...

Nice that 700 years later, computer criminals adopted it too. Not surprising that this particular word has finally made it back to its roots.

Next you'll be saying that "gay" is suddenly being used to describe everyone who's happy. Wait for it.

Last I checked, "hack" was far older than computers. Older, even, than ingenuity.
  https://www.etymonline.com/sea...
https://www.etymonline.com/wor...

chopping wood, coughing, routine work...

Nice that 700 years later, computer criminals adopted it too. Not surprising that this particular word has finally made it back to its roots.

Next you'll be saying that "gay" is suddenly being used to describe everyone who's happy. Wait for it.

It's older even than that; a pirate in the sense of "one who takes another's work without permission" dates back to 1701, at least according to Etymology Online. Wikipedia dates it back to 1603:

The practice of labelling the infringement of exclusive rights in creative works as "piracy" predates statutory copyright law. Prior to the Statute of Anne in 1710, the Stationers' Company of London in 1557, received a Royal Charter giving the company a monopoly on publication and tasking it with enforcing the charter. Those who violated the charter were labelled pirates as early as 1603

People arguing that the words "pirate" and "piracy" only refers to the maritime crime have more than 400 years of history standing against them.

Fake AF.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=road
It's been a nautical term forever; hence "Hampton Roads."

The online etymological dictionary is pretty good for this.

"it was used in sugar refining as the name of a frame covered in coarse cloth used in straining."

Also mentions that it was a term used for condoms by 1939. My guess is that the first people to use it didn't really care too much about what it meant, but felt the term that sounded suitably insulting.

An Old English word for it was sæsceaða. Meaning "one who takes another's work without permission" first recorded 1701; sense of "unlicensed radio broadcaster" is from 1913.

But don't let facts get in the way of your argument.

it doesn't mean that you are correct.

What he is not correct about? Every statement he made is true.

I note that your quote, seemingly from the online etymology dictionary, is for the single word "whopper," not the phrase "whopper of a lie."

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

That is wrong. As long as you are not standing precisely on the pole the sun will always rise in the east.
If you are standing precisely on the pole you could argue that the rising point is south, however: http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

I don't get your argument.
Regardless of which side of the equator you are: the sun always rises in the east.
East is defined by the place/side where the sun is rising.

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

As for jingoism, it's from a 19th century song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Yes, some in Great Britain wanted to invade Russia.

Jingo as a word is a minced oath, which means "by Jingo" was a substitute for "by Jesus.

Here are the words:

"We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do

We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too

We've fought the Bear before, and while we're Britons true

The Russians shall not have Constantinople.

Oddly enough, the song starts out with a lie - they really wanted a war with Russia. Wonder how that would have turned out......

Sounds more like you're describing a thought terminating cliche.

As for jingoism, it's from a 19th century song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

When did regulate ever mean "to make regular". The word "regulate" comes from the Latin "regula" which means "to rule", and even as early as Middle English, meant "to direct, to make rules". You're just inventing a fake etymology to further a false argument about what the framers of the Constitution intended.

"Regulate" meant the same in 18th century English as it does today.

"regulate (v.) Look up regulate at Dictionary.com
early 15c., "adjust by rule, control," from Late Latin regulatus, past participle of regulare "to control by rule, direct," from Latin regula "rule" (see regular). Meaning "to govern by restriction" is from 1620s. Related: Regulated; regulating."
http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

No:

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

There is no such thing as "a holocaust" any more than there's such a thing as "a los angeles". There's just The Holocaust, which is one specific genocide, like there's just Los Angeles, which is one specific city. It's not a generic noun, it's a proper noun.

Oh right of course.

For Palestinians its al-Nakbah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

kind of like the Trail of Tears

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The word 'holocaust' has meaning outside of the Jewish context, its not a proper name. The term appears to date from the 13th century.

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

mid-13c., "sacrifice by fire, burnt offering," from Old French holocauste (12c.), or directly from Late Latin holocaustum, from Greek holokauston "a thing wholly burnt," neuter of holokaustos "burned whole," from holos "whole" (see holo-) + kaustos, verbal adjective of kaiein "to burn" (see caustic).

I wrote where I am. Hint..

That said, lox has the same root word. It was even the English word through Old English (læx) until "salmon" (a word from Latin (salmonem) of unknown origin) took over. That actually happened with a lot of "food-related" terms, with Latin-origin terms (via French) replacing Germanic/Norse-origin terms - but usually the animal itself kept the Germanic/Norse. For example, you have cow (proto-germanic *kwon, Norse kýr/kú) but the food is beef (Latin bovem); swine (proto-Germanic swinan, Norse svín) and pig (unknown origin), but the food is pork (Latin porcus); lamb (proto-Germanic lambaz, Norse lamb), ewe (proto-Germanic *awi, Norse ær), sheep (West Germanic *skæpan), but the food is mutton (Latin multonem); etc. I guess food has always sounded fancier if you write it in French ;)

Unless being gay is a mental illness too, which I guess it is by your definition...

It used to be, until members of the psychological/psychiatric profession were badgered into redefining the illness as being not an illness.

And before it was an illness it wasn't. The word "homosexual" is only about a century old in the first place. It was created explicitly to pathologize a wide range of human sexual behaviors. Nobody "badgered" it out of being an illness - the science just started to catch up with the reality. The badgering was by the judgemental assholes who decided to create an illness out of a large swath of the human condition in the first place.

Give it time.

Can't. Don't have that much time in my life left. And I'm only 38.
When robots (cause you can't outsource services for people - cause you need them where people already ARE) become able to replace medical professionals - there won't be ANY workplaces anyway.
If a robot can operate on a human, do examinations, prescribe therapies... and do it in a way that it can replace human beings without increasing the number of deaths and injuries...
Then there is no job that a robot can't do.

Apart from those creative, artistic ones.
And since we can't all be writers, singers, actors, dancers etc. - and live from it... Hello communist utopia!
Or Star Trek. But that's me repeating myself.

I mean, I'd LIKE to see that in my lifetime... but let's face it - it ain't happening. At least not for a while longer.

Amazon made that moot already.

You are confusing being a consumer to being sold something. Salesmanship (and all other -ships) is a social skill.
All that computers accomplish when trying to simulate social skills is causing irritation in humans.
Why do you think there's so much money and effort invested in advertising if "selling things" is a moot point?

There's a third category: Government jobs, where you're required to act like a robot.

Some would say that you are required to be a citizen.
But the actual underlying requirement is that you are a human being, capable of understanding (and respecting) social contracts.
Which is why no matter how many tricks an animal can perform or how good it is at being intelligent sorta-kinda like a retarded human child - it doesn't get to be a citizen.

Then again, some humans are given way too much credit under the assumption that they are capable of understanding social contracts.
Thus, you know... Trump 2016.

Looking on etymonline.com I see that Venerian was the older form of the word but has been displaced by Venusian. A pity.

Interesting. I learned the 'speed' meaning first as I guess that is the more common, but the Dutch (and Germanic) root is the "fixed" meaning (vast in Dutch). Apparently, fast=fixed -> firm -> vigorous -> fast=speedy

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

My guess* is that they are from separate stems. In Dutch, kleven (clay-vun) is to stick together, and klieven (clee-vun) is to split apart.

No idea where the contradictory meaning in sanction comes from, in Dutch 'sanctioneren' (v) also has both meanings and people get confused.

*) And Internet confirms it :) http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

There is no distinction between sex and gender. Sex and gender are two words to describe the same thing.

Citation:
http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

What do you call the propensity of female humans in our culture to wear skirts and the propensity of of male humans not to? Because that is what is being referred to by the concept of 'gender.'

No, this is called 'culture'.
Roman armor and kilts destroy your entire argument regarding skirts.

Roman Armor Skirts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Scottish Kilts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Arabic Thawb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Just.Stop.Now. You're not doing the LGBT / Feminist movement any justice.

False.

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

False.

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

Look into the history of the word.

Religion is a red herring in this and an attempt to shift the goalposts.

You mean like shifting the goalposts from civil unions to marriage?

(For whoever missed the reference and thought I was trolling: here you go.)

Why English disconnected the word for circle from the word for wheel, I don't know.

Because the English word is derived from a notion of conveyance (which almost always used a wheel/circle) not directly from the root "circle".

Ummm... I hate to break it to you, but the verb form of "gift", as in "bestow a gift", dates back to the 16th century. It's not a modern or American usage; it is a long-recognized usage of the word.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

That can't be right, America didn't even exist then! ;-)

Ummm... I hate to break it to you, but the verb form of "gift", as in "bestow a gift", dates back to the 16th century. It's not a modern or American usage; it is a long-recognized usage of the word.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

But I still don't understand what a joulukouku is.

Literally: Christmashook

But "Joulukuu" is literally Christmas "moon". In finnish month names end with -kuu ie. moon, meaning month. Both having same ethymological origin, see explanation here.

Joulu is finnish possibly from Swedish "Jul" meaning same thing ie. Christmas, but there are multiple explanations where Jul originally came from, see this.

You have to be careful as words do change their meanings, sometimes drastically, in the course of a few centuries. In the case of "is", the meaning seems to have been stable for the last 4+ centuries. Other words not so much, take the etymology od "nice",

late 13c., "foolish, stupid, senseless," from Old French nice (12c.) "careless, clumsy; weak; poor, needy; simple, stupid, silly, foolish," from Latin nescius "ignorant, unaware," literally "not-knowing," from ne- "not" (see un-) + stem of scire "to know" (see science). "The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj." [Weekley] -- from "timid" (pre-1300); to "fussy, fastidious" (late 14c.); to "dainty, delicate" (c. 1400); to "precise, careful" (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to "agreeable, delightful" (1769); to "kind, thoughtful" (1830).

From http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

"Here thou haveth two tokens .. Enjoy thine stay!" source

"Aye, I knowst 'bout the History .. I wast intrested to know .. Thank thou, Madam Camorea." source

Like nails on a frickin' chalkboard. And sadly not at all hard to find.

No they don't. They don't even come from the same language.

See here and here for their respective etymologies.

No they don't. They don't even come from the same language.

See here and here for their respective etymologies.

Here's the etymology:
        http://www.etymonline.com/inde...

I don't speak French, and it look archaic (middle French.)

Did you listen to his "History of Freedom?" I was pretty sure it was in "Books that have Made History" but it might have been in that other lecture series. I don't think it was from any of his others.

Thanks!

Strictly speaking, Lemkin invented the word "genocide" to describe the Nazi's mass killings of Jews.
The killing of Armenians was "merely" used as an example of another genocide.
http://www.etymonline.com/inde...
http://www.preventgenocide.org...

Yes, that was when they really put the boot into darkie. Even the word loot stems form those heady days of plundering India. Killing millions while emptying the country. What glorious days.

Idiot.

Because [nimrod] has been a well known slur for a long time.

Citation needed.

There's a slang dictionary that lists it as a slang word for "penis" from ~40 years prior to it appearing in Bugs Bunny cartoons, but it doesn't appear to be used in that context in the cartoons. The Online Etymology Dictionary indicates that the term may have been used ironically prior to the cartoons to mock an individual as a poor hunter rather than it's original meaning of a great hunter, but notes that it wasn't until the 80's that it was widely used to mean an idiot, geek, etc.

If you have evidence to suggest otherwise, please let me know. I couldn't find anything to support that claim after a few minutes of Google searching to support that it's been a well known slur (I can't recall hearing it recently so it may have fallen out of favor) outside of the generation that grew up using it. Seems far more likely that a cartoon unintentionally lead to the language shift because it used a reference that children were unlikely to understand as anything other than an insult.

All of that aside, "nimrod" is at worst on the same level as "dork" or "geek" but is probably closer to calling someone a "doo doo head". Only a nimrod would try to insult someone by calling them a nimrod.

* "wer", adult male (survives in a few words like virile and werewolf)

(Puts on pedantic hat.) You are correct that the Germanic/Old English "were" survives in words like "werewolf" and, for Tolkien fans only, "weregild" (as in "This I will have as weregild for my father's death" from the Silmarillion).

"Virile," however, comes from the Latin "virilis" via French. They are kinda sorta related but not really.

This is a gross oversimplification as any language scholar can tell you, but a fun exercise for any English language speaker is to study the roots of common "vulgar" vs. "high-class" words and find that their roots map very closely to Latin vs. Germanic. Old English was - once the native Celts and Romano-Britons had been displaced - largely a relic of its "Germanic" (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) conquerors and the language of the people. After the Norman Conquest in 1066 (Normans "Nord-mann" being transplanted Vikings who learned French) the language of the nobility in England became French (which was based on Latin) for hundreds of years. While over time the two melded together, you can still (again, oversimplifying) in many cases tell the upper-class terms for things (derived from French/Latin) from the lower-class terms for things (derived from Old English/Germanic). For example:

• Lower-class English term: shit (viz. German scheisse); upper-class English term: excrement (viz. French excrement)
• Lower-class English term: house (viz. German haus); upper-class English term: mansion (viz. French maison)

It doesn't hold true in all cases but it is in general a pretty fascinating window into the evolution of the English language, FWIW.

That's an urban legend.

You know why aisle has an 's' in it? It's because isle has an 's' despite being derived from the old English ile because the Latin word isula also means island and it has an 's' in it so ours might as well have one too.

Um, no. The Old English word came from Old French, OF île > Vulgar Latin isle > Latin insula. The circumflex often denotes where an s used to follow the vowel, but later became silent. As in hôtel > hostel, côte > coste ("coast"), château > chastel ("castle"), même > mesme ("same"; cf. Portuguese mesmo, Spanish mismo). The s got added back in the 16th Century in French (which at that time was both becoming standardised in its modern form and was also becoming *the* language of international communication), and due to this as well as confusion with "aisle", the English followed suit.

Accurate info on such matters is as close your friendly neighbourhood etymological dictionary. Now you too can amaze your friends, and be the life of any party. :)

Guess you ought to give up your account, since it's such a newfangled word. I mean, it only acquired its current meaning in 1966.

Application to any male is recorded by 1966, U.S., originally in Black English.

Hey, it's barely a word:

In the 1960s, dude evolved to mean any male person, a meaning that slipped into mainstream American slang in the 1970s.