I just saw a Circuit City commercial that said they had some program or something (I'm not sure what it was, I wasn't really paying attention) that was made from something called Geek Zone (or something very close to Geek Zone, anyway, it had the word geek in it).

I notice that "geek" used to be an insult and is now mostly just a title for someone that is really, let's say "technologically sound." :ok:


I thought it might be kind of interesting to see what other words were insults or duragatory are now turned around as something good or normal. Can you think of any?

Keep it clean, folks. I don't mean like swear words :bleh:

That's a great question...

I can think of some that I'd rather not post, because they're culturally context based...

the only other ones I can think of are pretty lame, hehe.

like how "bad" itself can mean good....
"bitchin'"

:tomato:

How about this?

In Shakespeare's time, the phrase "to die" was a slang term meaning "to have an orgasm..."

Nice turn of phrase, there... :whistle:

:blink: What a different meaning!


Oh and you're right! I forgot about "bad" "sick" and "ill" and "mad" and also "fat" but now it's "phat."

So many!! :D

How about USA street slang where dog and the female version refer to male and female?

Well the word s|ut used to mean mean an untidy, dirty, woman back in the 1930's or so. I'm sure we all know what it means now.


EDIT I hate having to write it as s|ut, and wouldn't if I didn't have to.

Well the word bitch, for example isn't at all insulting nowadays(bad behind bitch).. and the word gay, once it had a meaning for someone who is a homosexual, but nowadays, it still has that meaning, but it's also used for something that is boring, stupid (like: that was a gay cartoon).

F*ck is a very versatile word.

yeah, like I'm f*king with you, can mean I'm joking with you!!

yeah, like I'm f*king with you, can mean I'm joking with you!! [/b][/quote]
Or it can mean... :whistle:

Well, bitch originally meant a female dog, so I believe this is actually a case of 'a good word turned worse', despite it being widely used to with other things than just nasty women these days.

Also, the word 'gay' has gone through the same, as the original meaning is playful. An example can be found from this old newspaper excerpt (that my girlfriend loathes): http://koti.mbnet.fi/herd/pictures/goodwife.jpg