|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Well, without wanting to be too picky, I disagree. A word can become part of the language without ever having been heard by the majority. For instance, think of some of the medical terms which are now in the OED, but which have never passed the lips of anyone but specialists.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
What about, for ex., surfers' words? Let me see: gnarly, tubular (sorry, I'm rather out of touch with the current surfing scene, she said dryly); for a long time these were used in a limited setting. Then people, mostly kids or wannabe kids across the country started using them--but was this a majority?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Doesn't a word enter the jargon when it is accepted by a some 'critical mass' of the jargon's users? And don't you think that even though this principle may be subject to regulation by governing bodies in professional circles, in wider or less formal ones, a word enters the language when it finds some number of users? (For the sake of argument, let's say those users are *not members of the same family.) Do you think this proposition is extreme? One way or another, I don't think that in saying that language is, in this sense, democratic, one is necessarilly invoking a majoritarian rule. Ideally, democracies also protect the interests -- and so, here, usages -- of minorities. Or?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133
member
|
|
member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133 |
Idon't want to be picky, either, but had to repress a wry
grin, capfka, at 'jazz ergot'.
And, Elizabeth, the only reference I knew for 'diss' was
'disrespect'. You can add this to your diss lisst and I'll
have to wonder which dis diss means when I hear it!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
I have been rather put to it in the past few days to try and get across to my children (born in '84 and '85) the significance of the term "Deep Throat". Their primary acquaintanceship with it is from the X-Files. I don't think they can fully appreciate all the connotations it has for those of us who lived (and watched) when the Watergate investigation was going on.
My own association of the term is with a rather more X-rated character than in the X-files. In my case, it comes from familiarity with the term from before Watergate.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
|
|
OP
addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
only reference I knew for 'diss' was
'disrespect'.
I don't think "disrespect" is a verb. I'll have to go look it up. But the whole group of them indicates a similar attitude to the person being dissed - an attitude that says that what they are saying or doing is not worth serious consideration, or perhaps consideration at all.
And, Sparteye, I remember the original "Deep Throat" too. Did you know her FATHER watched that movie? More than once, I heard. Lowlife.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I don't think "disrespect" is a verb.
I initially shared EC's reaction to the use of disrespect as a verb. But I have grown used to it over time. I hear it in court frequently. It is used more by some age groups and ethnic groups than other.
If respect is a verb (as in "while I disagree with you, I nonetheless respect you") then the use of disrespect as a verb logically follows (as in "he disrepected my car so I shot him").
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Did you know her FATHER watched that movie?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
As the token (1/32) African-American here (plus 20 years in Atlanta, yo), diss does indeed come from "disrespect." ~~Scarlett with a twist 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I don't think "disrespect" is a verb.
OED has citations dating back to 1614 for disrespect as a verb. This predates their citations for disrespect as a noun by 16 years and for disrespectful by 63 years.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,316
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
342
guests, and
3
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
