{"id":296,"date":"2021-05-18T15:57:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T22:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/?p=296"},"modified":"2021-05-18T15:58:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T22:58:05","slug":"uncle-josh-on-reclaimed-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/18\/uncle-josh-on-reclaimed-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncle Josh on Reclaimed Words"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I love words. I have a strange passion for knowing words and an annoying desire to use the right word in every situation. I like my language to be precise. So when I encountered a Twitter thread about the word &#8220;dyke&#8221; (in terms of lesbians, not water resource management) and I thought &#8220;what&#8217;s that called?&#8221; I meant the class of word that historically is used pejoratively but the previous victims of the word use amongst themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hate not knowing words. Fortunately the discussion gave me the word I needed: Reclaimed Words. The linguists apparently call this Reappropriation or Resignification.  There are a bunch of them that I cannot use socially, and wouldn&#8217;t want to, unless someone in that group gave me explicit permission to use it to address them, and that, frankly, hasn&#8217;t happened and I wouldn&#8217;t expect it to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I do appreciate this reappropriation of words. I can&#8217;t use them as I am a straight white cisgendered male with a Christian background and an upper-middle-class mentality<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_296_1('footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_296_1('footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_296_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">You know, the demographic that doesn&#8217;t need a Day of Visibility or Awareness Month<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_296_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>, but I am hopeful that the words, through new usage, can take on new meanings one day. Those meanings will not be full of hate. Those new meanings will be used to identify a community of people, and if they have their own private language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone has a private language they use. Every marriage is a language<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_296_1('footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_2');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_296_1('footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_2');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_2\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_296_1_2\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><em>The Language Archive<\/em> by Julia Cho<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_296_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Every family has a language. Every community has a language. Every profession has it&#8217;s own language. It&#8217;s kind of amazing that we can cross-talk at all some days. Well, most days we can&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em><a href=\"https:\/\/weeklysift.com\/2021\/02\/08\/why-you-cant-understand-conservative-rhetoric\/\">Why You Can&#8217;t Understand Conservative Rhetoric<\/a><\/em>, Doug Muder describes one difference between the political left and political right as a basic language problem. Liberals have a literate culture, Conservatives have an oral culture. The basic relationship to words is fundamentally different. I come from the literate side. Words have set definitions. Those definitions can change over time, but it is an evolution of a definition. On the oral tradition there is no grand unifying definition, but context-aware usages. For example , &#8220;Cancel Culture&#8221; is Josh Hawley loosing a book deal with Simon &amp; Schuster, but Colin Kaepernick losing a football career isn&#8217;t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do I feel bad that I can&#8217;t use words like &#8220;dyke&#8221;, &#8220;faggot&#8221;, &#8220;nigger&#8221;, &#8220;chink&#8221;, or &#8220;jap&#8221;? Nope. The hate and dehumanization are, currently, part of the definitions of those words. The words have not evolved enough for public consumption and practical usage. I have no reason to use the words because I don&#8217;t want to dehumanize those around me.  If the members of those groups use the word, that&#8217;s their business<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_296_1('footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_3');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_296_1('footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_3');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_3\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_296_1_3\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">And sometimes their Constitutional Right. See <em>The Slants<\/em> for details<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_296_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Someone on the thread asked if non-lesbians could use the word &#8220;dyke&#8221; and was told probably not.  So I won&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_296_1();\">Digressions<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_296_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_296_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_296_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">Digressions<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_296_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">You know, the demographic that doesn&#8217;t need a Day of Visibility or Awareness Month<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_296_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_2');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_2\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>2<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\"><em>The Language Archive<\/em> by Julia Cho<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_296_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_296_1_3');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_296_1_3\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>3<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">And sometimes their Constitutional Right. See <em>The Slants<\/em> for details<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_296_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_296_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_296_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_296_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_296_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_296_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_296_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_296_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_296_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_296_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_296_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_296_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_296_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_296_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love words. I have a strange passion for knowing words and an annoying desire to use the right word in every situation. I like my language to be precise. So when I encountered a Twitter thread about the word &#8220;dyke&#8221; (in terms of lesbians, not water resource management) and I thought &#8220;what&#8217;s that called?&#8221; &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"1"},"categories":[70,135],"tags":[134,133,132],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-armchair-philosophy","category-the-joy-of-lex","tag-cancel-culture","tag-reappropriation","tag-words"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298,"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshuarenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}