I think I’m noticing a trend with English words:

  • “cool” used to mean “a bit cold” but now it mostly means “good”
  • “awesome” used to mean “inspiring awe” but now it mostly means “good”
  • “fantastic” used to mean “fantastical” but now it mostly means “good”
  • “incredible” used to mean “unbelievable” but now it mostly means “good”
  • “amazing” used to mean “inspiring amazement” but now it mostly means “good”
@[email protected] I think this has to do with corporate sterilization of language. Like, people hear these words thrown around without much regard, often meaning the opposite of their definition because of how performance reviews are, and then the weight of the words lessens, I guess
@julia that’s a really interesting thought. that wouldn’t surprise me at all. it makes me think of those old circus advertisements that constantly overused words like “amazing”, “astounding”, “mystifying”, etc.
@kasdeya reverse newspeak; it turns out it is more effective to reduce the range of expressible meanings than it is to reduce the range of words
@kasdeya
Sounds like language enshittification to me.
@kasdeya this post has the juice, or it's good.
@shlee @kasdeya "fully sick mate, subwoofer" i.e. not bad, good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRv7IE6T4gQ
Fat Pizza - Sick Mate, Sick, Subwoofer

YouTube
@kasdeya Linguistic carcinization
@kasdeya all of these vary with intonation
@kasdeya "ultimate" used to mean "last" but

@ricci The other day I ate from a cup of "Ultimate yogurt" and felt sad that I could not have any yogurt again.

@kasdeya

@ricci @kasdeya "epic" as an adjective used to mean "of or relating to an extensive narrative poem celebrating the feats of a deity, demigod, or hero" but
@kasdeya looking forward to seeing quarterly reports featuring sigma, mid, and skibidi
@kasdeya
yeah no, no, yeah, it's low key high key rad
@vantiss @kasdeya i am literally actually for real no cap dying from this omg