Do Words Mean Anything Anymore? - by charlie - evil female

As we transform radical, clinical, and academic language to become more casual, we not only lessen the value of our vocabulary but actively harm marginalized communities.

Male gaze. Gatekeeping. Dissociating. Manic. Hyper-fixate. Queer-baiting. Intrusive thoughts. This is a short list of words that once held specific meanings now dissolved into the amalgamation of online discourse. Words change meaning and usage over time. This is nothing new. Our language is living, it evolves, definitions change, new words come about, others diminish in usage. Such is the nature of linguistics. I tend to take a connotative approach to language; that is to say, if a word is used and understood a certain way, that is what it “means”, even if a dictionary definition is more…

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