Words as weapons or instruments of change
One of the things that I have noticed as the years pass is how language changes, morphs and creates new words.
The adverb seems to have died …how many times have been jarred out of a meditative state by my young supple yoga teacher saying: ” Lift your straight right leg slow off the floor. ” Slowly my dear slowly.
Then there is the word “fun”… it used to be attached to the word as in funhouse or the title of a song… “Funny Valentine”. Now it is an adjective as in I had a “fun” time. A noun as “fun” was had by all. Did you have fun? Was it fun? I do not find this overuse funny.
I like new words that come with the new technology like e-mail, texting, influencer or memes. Why not have new works for new times. All good.
I like really old fashion phrases like: “good times were had by all” or “as happy as a clam (at high tide) “ or “like water off a duck”.
I have been caught using inappropriate language as in “Oriental” instead of “Asian America” or she is dwarf instead of she has dwarfism. I followed (sometimes confused) my friend as she changed from Negro to African American to black to multi-racial to ________.
I read Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott when you could refer to the Jewish heroine as a Jewess even though she was obviously the best and brightest person in the entire novel.
I have my pet peeve, which is to be referred to by as a girl. I just ain’t a girl no more …it seems demeaning. I really don’t want to hurt my waitress’s feelings when she says, “ “What would you girls like to drink?” Would she understand or be offended if I said: “Girl bring me a glass of water with lemon.”