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What's a word you've spent a long time not using right? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Just recently I was in a conversation with a number of UK mainlanders and we had a debate over what "tories" meant, apparently disproportionately ordinarily it refers to a political party and it's not usual to use it as short for "territories" as I've used it (according to how the debate ended, it was half and half between them). And once again I'm reminded of how people feel to look back at their usage of a word/phrase over the years and cringe.

More tragically, me and a friend were embarrassed once upon realizing everyone was confusing "encephalitis" with "hydrocephalus" when talking to someone about their kid with hydrocephalus. Awkward because encephalitis is caused by HIV.

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[-] Signtist@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago

I happily described a nice coffee shop as "kitschy" to the guy behind the counter and quickly learned from his reaction that it isn't the synonym for "artsy" that I thought it was.

[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago

It means "a naive imitation" for anyone who's ears are turning red now. Puts on a wool cap.

[-] CobblerScholar@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

And here I thought it meant quirky, fuck

[-] bran_buckler@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago

If I’ve literally learned anything, it’s that if a bunch of us keep using it as a compliment to mean quirky, we can shift the meaning!

[-] june@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

And what does it actually mean?

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I thought something similar about the word "campy", as in something so dry it becomes its own style.

this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023

157 points (93.9% liked)

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