Good to see young aussies are learning the lingo at a young age... My niece is currently calling everything negative, "gay"...Quite disturbing.
My cousins were doing that all the time when i lived with them... It was even acceptable on most occasions, in front of their parents... Very, very sad...
See, here's the thing. As a society, on the whole, we're becoming more blase about "swear" words. Standards of acceptability are constantly on the move. Kids pick up on this, heck, they're at the forefront of the "movement". Instead of "f**k up", would "screw up" have been more acceptable ? Many would say the latter is fine, but if you think about it the verb "screw" is really being used as a metaphor for the act of sexual intercourse. It's just that the latter is a semi-euphemism, while the former f-word is an in-your-face literal expletive. The intent is really the same in both cases. Same thing with words like "gay" and "jerk". It seems to be perfectly acceptable for schoolkids to say "yeah, he/she's a jerk !" But what does "jerk" really mean, apart from the act of masturbation ? I can't think of another meaning for jerk, in this context.
I think at some point words take on their own meaning that differs from their roots. Some examples.. I referred to someone as a "scumbag" once. I used the term in an attempt to be less caustic than saying "*******" or "d!ckhead", etc. The guy I was talking to (not about) was a little offended and asked if I realized a "scumbag" was a used condom. I never thought about the actual meaning, just how "harsh" it is in daily usage, and it's not very harsh. What does "dork" really mean? A whale **** right? But kids use it to refer to someone stupid/unpopular/who did something dumb, etc. Calling someone dork isn't bad, since its considered a VERY light insult. A geek was someone who ate disgusting things at a circus, but nowadays it refers to someone intellectual (maybe too intellectual - for kids) or to a "tech guy" for adults.
I don't know if the meaning is necessarily different, I think it's more of a case where the literal (disgusting) connotation is replaced by a metaphorical (milder) one. But point taken. LOL, I would've loved to see the expression on your face after that comeback ! Yeah, it never registered with me that scumbag was ...that. On a related note, "d0uche" and "d0uchebag" are fairly commonly used, but they still retain some of that offensiveness. They certainly seem worse than scumbag to me, yet, a d0uche is a perfectly natural hygiene aid for women, whereas a scumbag is an offensive refuse from a coitus undertaken purely for pleasure. Seems weird that scumbag is somehow less offensive than d0uche, doesn't it ? All good points. What, if any, was the original meaning of the word "nerd", do you know ?
I didn't, so I looked it up. It appears that there is no agreed-upon etymology of the word, but the top theories are -Derived from "knurd" which is drunk spelled backwards. This word was apparently used jokingly to refer to someone who did not drink. -New England Research Department was a division of what is now Nortel. They were involved in all sorts of R&D and were considered propellerheads. It's claimed they were known as "nerds" (meaning a brainiac who is lacking in social skills) around the company and the word caught on -Dr. Seuss used the word in one of his books in the 60's. The passage was And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo a Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too Personally I like the Dr. Seuss one the best
A whale dick is not a DORK, its a HOOKUS. That being the case, just what is a DORK? My x-wife used to call me that on occasion, but not knowing the meaning, thought is perhaps was a form of endearment. Does DUMBASS ring a bell? I'd post a picture of a HOOKUS but I dont live with her anymore.
