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Post #967004

Author
Tyrphanax
Parent topic
Random Thoughts
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/967004/action/topic#967004
Date created
9-Jul-2016, 9:39 PM

imperialscum said:

Tyrphanax said:

imperialscum said:

Tyrphanax said:

“Gay” used to just mean “happy” in English. Now it doesn’t. Language is fluid.

Gay still means happy in addition to now more common informal use for homosexual person.

Moron was originally defined as a psychology term for “a person of mild mental retardation” in certain IQ range. While the new informal meaning doesn’t relate to the technical term in psychology, it still means stupid person nevertheless.

Does society at large use either of those words in that context anymore? Not really.

Nevertheless, unlike “gay”, “moron” in the new context has almost identical meaning as the original definition.

I’ve never seen it used in a psychological context in my life. I don’t think anyone does. I didn’t even know that’s where the word originated before today.

I guess you could probably trace all insults to the intelligence to a time that they were meant to refer to those with mental disabilities (in either a derogatory or psychological context), but, again, language is a fluid thing.