"In 1970, political theorist Giovanni Sartori described this drift of meaning as “conceptual stretching.” Sartori argued that it occurs when words or phrases move too far from the conditions that originally anchored them. They become gradually devalued, retaining their emotional and moral charge while losing clarity. In everyday use, “narcissist” moved from a clinical diagnosis to a sort of lifestyle judgment, yet it retains the moral seriousness — and social stigma — that we often associate with a mental health disorder."

https://bigthink.com/thinking/from-woke-to-traumatic-how-useful-terms-become-empty-buzzwords/

#BigThink #ConceptualStretching #Linguistics #SemanticDrift