Oral culture / lessons from our time?

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**morganfreeman**

Agent_Tremolo wrote:

Well, words do tend to change meanings over time. I can't think of an example in English right now but, precisely, the word "condenado " in Spanish (which would be the closest translation of "damned") lost nearly all of its religious undertones over the 20th Century, to the point that it became a mild swear word roughly interchangeable with "maldito" ("cursed"). Nowadays both words are rarely used, though, except as acceptable substitutes for stronger, less acceptable words.

Simple example of this in English (or at least the American version) would be gay. I'm pretty sure we both know what it means now in most senses, but some time ago it was simply happy / joyful / enjoyable, yadda yadda. I can think of another word which is a great example.. But it's pretty offensive by today's standards, and will most certainly be filtered. And no, it doesn't start with N. ~_~

**Buttery Commissar**

I'm not sure that's a comparison so easily drawn, the damned/cursed example is softening a term, as opposed to entirely repurposing it.
Perhaps an English comparison would be "bugger" which has it's original meaning of sodomite, but in modern use, especially American media, it can be even regarded as a "cute" term.
"Look at the little buggers." I've heard on family TV shows.

Those who remember the original meaning scratch our heads and shrug at this.