Here’s an example from me
If you want to de-normalize a nation’s state/government, call them
spoiler
a regime
Other examples include: hospital --> loony bin
Edit: the more I think about it, the more I realize dysphemism are insults?
call social programs ‘entitlements’.
And it’s not wrong to call them that. We are entitled to social programs that we paid into. The issue is the popularity of people saying that some are “entitled” instead of “self-entitled”.
I don’t disagree (that we should get what we paid for), but I think that term is meant to imply that beneficiaries of these programs are spoiled brats. Its idiotic, but then so is our politics. The distinction between ‘entitled’ and ‘self-entitled’ I think is way too fine a point for our national discourse.
I like the term “earned benefits” for things like Social Security that you have to pay into.
Calling refugees “immigrants”
Calling making an effort to be inclusive with people marginalised in some way, “woke”
“Booze-hound” to mean someone with an alcohol addiction
and someone who is addicted to drugs is sometimes called a “junkie”.
they usually just use my first name
Tbf, western tourists kinda be like that tho…
Death tax
Back when I was in high school, I remember people calling introverts and goths “freaks” (i.e. people who are outside the “norm”.)
classic normie behavior
I tell my friends that Asperger’s is a super power and that the word, “normies” is an insult.
I’ve aways assumed “normie” was an insult. But I might be over sensitive to such things, becaise “cis” also sounds like an insult to me.
A lesbian friend was the first person to call me cis. I had no idea what it meant. Now that I understand I have embraced the term to make clear how I see myself. I am a cis male.
i.e. “boring” 💪
Exactly.
Some people call a therapist a “shrink”.
There are a number of dysphemisms that are used to signify a person displaying symptoms of mental illness:
-
crazy
-
whack job (or whacko)
-
lunatic
And I’ve heard someone with a physical disability is called (cringe) a “gimp”. Ugh.
-
Getting “dumped” (for being on the non-consenting side of a break up.)
- Motorcycle riders : temporary Australians; or meat crayons
- Mental hospital : Napoleon factory (credit to Robert Heinlein)
meat crayons
Now, that’s a colorful right there
Mental hospital : Napoleon factory (credit to Robert Heinlein)
Why wouldn’t we want more Napoleons tho?
Relevant to your second example, a lot of people here tend to call therapists “paid friends”.
Kick the bucket for die
Popularism seems to just mean offering something actually appealing to the electorate.
Populism typically means playing to the appetites of the electorate without any intent to actually benefit them. Empty promises are the heart of it.
Yeah but it’s used for things like Bernie wanting universal health care or Corbyn renationalising the railways. Which would benefit people.
True enough. It’s often used wrong as a way to smear good-faith attempts to actually govern as impractical or insincere.
You mean demogogery?
Populism is only one kind of demagoguery.
What’s the other?
I mean come on, demagoguery and populism shouldn’t be subsects of each other… they practically are synonymous, but one has a more neutral connotation…
They’re both negative. Scapegoating an outgroup is another form of demagoguery, so is decrying experienced political institutions as corrupt while claiming to be a reformer.
They’re both negative. Scapegoating an outgroup is another form of demagoguery, so is decrying experienced political institutions as corrupt while claiming to be a reformer.
Pardon me if I find this confusing but this seems to be case of “There’s actually zero difference between bad and good things.” without context…
Have you fully thought through your words to type this out? 😔
How are any of what I listed good things?
Identity politics is another culprit
San FranStinkTown
Chitown for Chicago.
So-so no Frieren (I actually think it’s goated, btw)
You’ll see a lot of dysphemisms in the 2____4u communities as well.
