You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
21 points

Quite a few. The most recent well-known one is people often now using ‘literally’ to mean ‘figuratively,’ but there are other examples-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

A quantum leap is often used to emphasize a large step forward, however in physics it means the smallest possible change of state.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

And this isn’t quite a contronym, but “silly” originally meant “blessed.”

“Silly goes the other direction,” Curzan explains. “Silly goes all the way back to Old English, when silly meant happy or blessed.” This positive term quickly changed. Silly became a synonym for innocent or harmless, and then became an adjective for something or someone worthy of sympathy.

Something we feel sympathy for is something that’s weak. And something that’s weak is unsophisticated. Finally, silly went on to mean ignorant and lacking sense.

https://www.michiganpublic.org/arts-culture/2013-10-27/the-changing-meanings-of-nice-and-silly

And, as that same article said, “nice” used to mean what silly means today.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

And thanks to internet culture blessed now can mean something similar to silly.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

That’s nice, dear.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

Also, the American Fascist Party is still officially called the Republican Party even though it wants to change the government form to theocratic fascism 🤷

permalink
report
parent
reply

Political Memes

!politicalmemes@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civil

Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformation

Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memes

Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotion

Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

Community stats

  • 12K

    Monthly active users

  • 2.8K

    Posts

  • 122K

    Comments