Skunked term

Last updated October 15, 2024

A skunked term is a word that becomes difficult to use because it is evolving from one meaning to another, perhaps inconsistent or even opposite, usage,^[1] or a word that becomes difficult to use due to other controversy surrounding the word.^[2] Purists may insist on the old usage, while descriptivists may be more open to newer usages. Readers may not know which sense is meant especially when prescriptivists insist on a meaning that accords with interests that often conflict.^{[ citation needed ]}

Usage

Garner recommends avoiding such terms if their use may distract readers from the intended meaning of a text.^[3]

Some terms, such as "fulsome", may become skunked, and then eventually revert to their original meaning over time.^[4]

Examples in English

Terms with opposite meanings

Humbled originally meant "brought low" but is often used to mean "honored".^[5]
"It's all downhill from here" originally meant to become easier but is widely used to mean becoming worse or more difficult.^[6]
Literally is widely used with metaphorical language for emphasis.^[7]
A moot point in British English has historically meant a point that is worth debating, but the meaning is shifting towards that in US English of a point that is irrelevant or academic.^[8]
A "steep learning curve" was used in psychology from the 1920s to describe the quick and easy acquisition of skill; it was adopted more widely in the 1970s with the opposite meaning, describing a difficult and arduous process.^[9]

Terms with potential to offend

Niggardly means "miserly" or "parsimonious", but is rarely used in modern English because it is easily confused with the slur nigger , despite their separate etymologies.^[10]
Oriental originally referred to anything associated with the east or orient, including the Middle East, and including people. More recently, the term has come to refer to East Asia exclusively, and use of the word to describe people has become offensive.^[11]
The words faggot and fag have various meanings in British English (such as a faggot being a meat dish or a bundle of sticks, and a fag being a cigarette)^[12] but in the United States they are homophobic slurs.^[13]

Terms similar to sexual terms

Cum is a Latin word used in English to mean "with" (e.g. summa cum laude) or "along with being" (e.g. he was a farmer-cum-poet), but in informal contexts it is increasingly associated with semen and related meanings.^[14]
Ejaculate means to "exclaim", but it is now more commonly used to refer to the emission of semen in orgasm.^[15]

Other terms

Biweekly has come to mean either "occurring every two weeks" or "occurring twice a week". The same ambiguity exists for the word bimonthly.^[16]^[17]
Data , and media have come to ambiguously describe both singular and plural entities, with the singular forms datum and medium declining in use.^[11]
Disinterested is widely used to mean "uninterested" whereas the primary meaning is "unbiased".^[18]
Drug can mean both pharmaceutical medicines and illegal recreational psychoactive substances like cocaine or heroin.^[19]
Enormity used to mean "horror" but has come to mean "great size", likely due to confusion with the word "enormous".
Gay's former meaning of "cheerful and carefree" has largely been lost due to its more recent meaning of "homosexual".
Hopefully used to mean "in a hopeful manner" but has come to mean "it is hoped" since the early 1960s.^[3]^[20]^[21]
Inflammable means "prone to catching fire", but is sometimes interpreted to mean "not flammable" due to the fact that the English prefix in- usually suggests "not". Due to potential dangers of the word confusion, inflammable has seen a decrease in usage in the last decades, while the word nonflammable is used instead to mean "not flammable".^[22]

Related Research Articles

Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter.

In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses, which are called its conjuncts. That description is vague enough to overlap with those of other parts of speech because what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each language. In English, a given word may have several senses and in some contexts be a preposition but a conjunction in others, depending on the syntax. For example, after is a preposition in "he left after the fight" but a conjunction in "he left after they fought".

Naphtha is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the fractional distillation of coal tar and peat. In some industries and regions, the name naphtha refers to crude oil or refined petroleum products such as kerosene or diesel fuel.

And/or is an English grammatical conjunction used to indicate that one, more, or all of the cases it connects may occur. It is used as an inclusive or, because saying "or" in spoken or written English might be inclusive or exclusive.

Elegant variation is the use of synonyms to avoid repetition or add variety. The term was introduced in 1906 by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler in The King's English. In their meaning of the term, they focus particularly on instances when the word being avoided is a noun or its pronoun. Pronouns are themselves variations intended to avoid awkward repetition, and variations are so often not necessary, that they should be used only when needed. The Fowlers recommend that "variations should take place only when there is some awkwardness, such as ambiguity or noticeable monotony, in the word avoided".

Bukkake is a sex act in which one participant is ejaculated on by multiple participants. It is often portrayed in pornographic films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cum shot</span> Depiction of human ejaculation

A cum shot is the depiction of human ejaculation, especially onto another person. The term is usually applied to depictions occurring in pornographic films, photographs, and magazines. Unlike ejaculation in non-pornographic sex, cum shots typically involve ejaculation outside the receiver's body, allowing the viewer to see the ejaculation in progress. Facial cum shots are regularly portrayed in pornographic films and videos, often as a way to close a scene. Cum shots may also depict ejaculation onto another performer's body, such as on the genitals, buttocks, chest or tongue.

A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name no longer suitably applies, or in an attempt to falsely blame or embarrass like in the misnomer case of Spanish flu. A misnomer may also be simply a word that someone uses incorrectly or misleadingly. The word "misnomer" does not mean "misunderstanding" or "popular misconception", and a number of misnomers remain in common usage — which is to say that a word being a misnomer does not necessarily make usage of the word incorrect.

Faggot, often shortened to fag in American usage, is a derogatory slur used to refer to gay men. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21st century, its meaning extended as a broader reaching insult more related to masculinity and group power structure.

A birth name is the name given to a person upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth register may by that fact alone become the person's legal name.

The Latin adverb sic inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Sic also applies to any surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might be interpreted as an error of transcription.

The Scunthorpe problem is the unintentional blocking of online content by a spam filter or search engine because their text contains a string of letters that appear to have an obscene or otherwise unacceptable meaning. Names, abbreviations, and technical terms are most often cited as being affected by the issue.

Hopefully is an adverb which means "in a hopeful manner" or, when used as a disjunct, "it is hoped". Its use as a disjunct has prompted controversy among advocates of linguistic purism or linguistic prescription.

A privative, named from Latin privare'to deprive', is a particle that negates or inverts the value of the stem of the word. In Indo-European languages, many privatives are prefixes, but they can also be suffixes, or more independent elements.

A combustible material is a material that can burn in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort and a flammable material catches fire immediately on exposure to flame.

Sexual slang is a set of linguistic terms and phrases used to refer to sexual organs, processes, and activities; they are generally considered colloquial rather than formal or medical, and some may be seen as impolite or improper.

Corporate jargon is the jargon often used in large corporations, bureaucracies, and similar workplaces. The language register of the term is generally being presented in a negative light or disapprovingly. It is often considered to be needlessly obscure or, alternatively, used to disguise an absence of information. Its use in corporations and other large organisations has been widely noted in media.

In language change, analogical change occurs when one linguistic sign is changed in either form or meaning to reflect another item in the language system on the basis of analogy or perceived similarity. In contrast to regular sound change, analogy is driven by idiosyncratic cognitive factors and applies irregularly across a language system. This leads to what is known as Sturtevant's paradox: sound change is regular, but produces irregularity; analogy is irregular, but produces regularity.

This list comprises widespread modern beliefs about English language usage that are documented by a reliable source to be misconceptions.

References

↑ Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Modern American Usage, 2009, p. 306f
1 2 Ben Yagoda, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, ISBN 1594488487, 2013, p. 82 and passim.
1 2 Brenner, Erin (13 March 2014). "The Politics of Writing: Should You Use Skunked Terms?" . Retrieved 6 September 2015.
↑ Brenner, Erin (22 February 2012). "The Story Behind "Fulsome"" . Retrieved 6 September 2015.
↑ Baggini, Julian (18 May 2013). "'I feel so humble' – the common cry of heroes and villains". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
↑ "Be (all) downhill definition". Cambridge English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
↑ Hawkes, Steve (13 August 2013). "Uproar as OED includes erroneous use of 'literally'". The Telegraph . Retrieved 6 September 2015.
↑ Marsh, David (16 January 2015). "The meaning of 'moot' is a moot point – whichever variety of English you speak | Mind your language". The Guardian . Retrieved 27 July 2018.
↑ Zimmer, Ben (8 February 2013). "A "Steep Learning Curve" for "Downton Abbey"". Word Routes. Vocabulary.com. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
↑ "Opinion | In a Word" . The New York Times. 30 January 1999. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 12 July 2020.
1 2 Perlman, Merrill (20 October 2014). "How common descriptors fall out of favor". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
↑ "faggot (noun)". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
↑ Prynne, Miranda (1 November 2013). "Man banned from Facebook for liking faggots". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
↑ Garner, Bryan A. (2022). Garner's Modern English Usage (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. "cum". ISBN 978-0-19-759902-0.
↑ Garner, Bryan A. (2022). Garner's Modern English Usage (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. "ejaculate". ISBN 978-0-19-759902-0.
↑ "Definition of biweekly". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
↑ Cinemassacre (6 May 2020). Pavlou, Chris (ed.). "You Know What's BS!? The Word Bimonthly". YouTube. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
↑ "Disinterested definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 20 May 2023.
↑ Zanders ED (2011). "Introduction to Drugs and Drug Targets". The Science and Business of Drug Discovery: 11–27. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9902-3_2. ISBN 978-1-4419-9901-6. PMC 7120710 .
↑ Liberman, Mark (27 May 2012). "The H-word". Language Log. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
↑ Beaujon, Andrew (19 April 2012). "Hopefully, this is the last we'll write about 'hopefully'". Poynter. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
↑ "Flammable vs. Inflammable". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 30 June 2023.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Modern American Usage, 2009, p. 306f

[yagoda-2] 1 2 Ben Yagoda, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, ISBN 1594488487, 2013, p. 82 and passim.

[politics-3] 1 2 Brenner, Erin (13 March 2014). "The Politics of Writing: Should You Use Skunked Terms?" . Retrieved 6 September 2015.

[4] Brenner, Erin (22 February 2012). "The Story Behind "Fulsome"" . Retrieved 6 September 2015.

[5] Baggini, Julian (18 May 2013). "'I feel so humble' – the common cry of heroes and villains". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2022.

[6] "Be (all) downhill definition". Cambridge English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.

[7] Hawkes, Steve (13 August 2013). "Uproar as OED includes erroneous use of 'literally'". The Telegraph . Retrieved 6 September 2015.

[8] Marsh, David (16 January 2015). "The meaning of 'moot' is a moot point – whichever variety of English you speak | Mind your language". The Guardian . Retrieved 27 July 2018.

[9] Zimmer, Ben (8 February 2013). "A "Steep Learning Curve" for "Downton Abbey"". Word Routes. Vocabulary.com. Retrieved 6 April 2023.

[10] "Opinion | In a Word" . The New York Times. 30 January 1999. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 12 July 2020.

[Perlman-11] 1 2 Perlman, Merrill (20 October 2014). "How common descriptors fall out of favor". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.

[12] "faggot (noun)". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 5 December 2023.

[faggots-13] Prynne, Miranda (1 November 2013). "Man banned from Facebook for liking faggots". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 December 2023.

[14] Garner, Bryan A. (2022). Garner's Modern English Usage (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. "cum". ISBN 978-0-19-759902-0.

[15] Garner, Bryan A. (2022). Garner's Modern English Usage (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. "ejaculate". ISBN 978-0-19-759902-0.

[16] "Definition of biweekly". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 14 February 2021.

[17] Cinemassacre (6 May 2020). Pavlou, Chris (ed.). "You Know What's BS!? The Word Bimonthly". YouTube. Retrieved 16 April 2021.

[18] "Disinterested definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 20 May 2023.

[19] Zanders ED (2011). "Introduction to Drugs and Drug Targets". The Science and Business of Drug Discovery: 11–27. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9902-3_2. ISBN 978-1-4419-9901-6. PMC 7120710 .

[20] Liberman, Mark (27 May 2012). "The H-word". Language Log. Retrieved 6 September 2015.

[21] Beaujon, Andrew (19 April 2012). "Hopefully, this is the last we'll write about 'hopefully'". Poynter. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.

[22] "Flammable vs. Inflammable". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 30 June 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]