“…people who use ‘snowflake’ as an insult tend to seem pretty aggrieved themselves…”
The truth is that people who use “snowflake” as an insult tend to seem...
Tag Archives: Semantics
“Now ownage communicates dominance, but it also belies an underlying impotence”
In the hacking context, owning someone is all about a display of superior technological...
“‘Weaponize’ was born in the 1950s as military jargon”
“Weaponize” was born in the 1950s as military jargon. It was an instantly comprehensible...
“In the present-day vernacular, people are most humbled by the things that make them look good”
To be humbled is to be brought low or somehow diminished in standing or...
“The “humblebrag” — a boast couched in a self-deprecating comment — has migrated from subtext to text…”
The “humblebrag” — a boast couched in a self-deprecating comment — has migrated from...
“We are living in humbling times. People are humbled all over the place”
We are living in humbling times. People are humbled all over the place. Lately...
“‘Ghetto’ has come to sound like an indictment of a people as well as of a place”
…the term “ghetto” does seem to have faded somewhat from common usage. In the...
“The uneasy way we discuss ghettos and gentrification says something about our discomfort with the real-estate market…”
The uneasy way we discuss ghettos and gentrification says something about our discomfort with...
“This is the end result of redefining racism to mean malice in one’s heart”
Trump…seems to understand that charges of racism are essentially toothless, because the bar of...
“’Racism’ spent the first half of the 20th century in competition with another word, ‘racialism’, though neither featured prominently in our national conversation”
The first cited use of “racism” in The Oxford English Dictionary comes from 1902,...