« Previous: “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter”- E.E Cummings Next: I’ll Miss You, chc10101 »
1

An interesting idea I thought about as I read Foucault for Beginners (which, by the way, was an entertaining read because of the helpful cartoons and snazzy pronunciation of Michel Foucault as “Me-shell Foo-k-oh”) is how the definition of words changes over time.

2

Take, for instance, the word “mad.” In the book, the author uses this word as a substitute for “crazy.” But who in their right mind would use “mad” as a term for “loony” when they hang around their friends at City College? Besides, if you decide to ask someone the question, “Are you mad?” they would probably wait to hear the rest of the question, because today not only does mad insinuate “mental impairment” and “anger,” it is used as a substitute for “very!” The word “mad” has completely transformed itself from an adjective meaning “deranged” to an adverb meaning “extremely!”

3

Not only has the word “mad” been affected by this relentless torrent of definition-changing hysteria, another familiar word that’s been warped is “gay.” No longer can a person say, “Wow, this ice cream sundae makes me very gay!” without thinking of the word’s homosexual connotation. How did this new definition even come about? Maybe, like how the insane must have been angry all the time, enough to be labeled “mad,” homosexuals must have been flamboyantly happy enough to call all happy people “gay.” But wait, there’s more! Consider the typical college freshman, grunting at his homework and saying, “Man, this paper is gay.” Does that mean the paper was too colorful? Or that he had a mandatory research assignment on homosexuality? What else could it be? You guessed it, “gay” has become an insult. It has become an alternative to the words “awful” and “terrible.”

4

So to answer the aim, yes, the English Language has gone maaad mad (The extra a’s are for emphasis and clarity). Can you think of any other words that have changed over time? Post them here!

5

-Michael Cheng

Posted by Michael Cheng on December 19, 2008
Tags: Michel Foucault

« Previous: “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter”- E.E Cummings Next: I’ll Miss You, chc10101 »
Total comments on this page: 5

How to read/write comments

Comments on specific paragraphs:

Click the icon to the right of a paragraph

  • If there are no prior comments there, a comment entry form will appear automatically
  • If there are already comments, you will see them and the form will be at the bottom of the thread

Comments on the page as a whole:

Click the icon to the right of the page title (works the same as paragraphs)

Comments

No comments yet.

nihir11373 on whole page :

Yea, it seems like the English Language has changed. I hear people saying “Mad Good,” as a substitute for “very” or “extremely.” To be honest, I think I do it too. But do you think Foucault would argue that this is an absolute truth?

go to text » Reply »
December 19, 2008 1:45 am
nihir11373 on whole page :

I guess one term is “all right.” Some people now say “iight…iight,” in a sense that is colloqial.

go to text » Reply »
December 19, 2008 2:18 am
michaelcheng on whole page :

Haha, well I like to use that word a lot. But that word hasn’t changed over time, I’m pretty much just saying that it’s interesting how drastically the definition of a word can change over time.

go to text » Reply »
December 19, 2008 4:23 am
julianflores on whole page :

another term is “o.d”. Usually it means “over-dosed”, and it’s used commonly by doctors to say, for example “the person died because he o.d-ed on drugs. However, it’s now used by people when something has been overdone or is too much. For example, a person might now say “that professor judell is “o.d” strict instead of saying he’s very strict. Another example is “that movie was o.d scary!” I wonder what foucault would say to all of this..Our language has “o.d” changed throughout the years..

go to text » Reply »
December 28, 2008 12:37 pm
afarooqi on whole page :

I totally agree with this conversation. The English language has changed throughout time, just like many other things have changed in American culture, or any culture, for that matter. As time passes, people learn ways to make things faster and easier, therefore, they use slang to say things in a shorter way. Speaking of making things faster and easier for ourselves, we have become so technologically developed today, that we have become idle. For instance, elevators, escalators, calculators, and computers are all technological advances that have made the human race lazy and dependent. We would, of course, rather take an elevator to the 15th floor of a building than run up the stairs, right? We would rather use a car to drive somewhere than to walk three miles. The entire world is slowly changing in every aspect, whether it is the English language that’s changing, or how we get to school in the morning. But I do think that people abuse certain terms in the English language, such as “mad.”

go to text » Reply »
January 2, 2009 1:41 am

Spam Protection by WP-SpamFree

You must be login to comment.
Create an account or login