• Khrux@ttrpg.networkEnglish
        6·
        7 days ago

        I’ve always had a soft spot for the word rizz. Not just is it a shortening of charisma, so more sensible than other zoomer words, but I grew up playing D&D, where wisdom is frequently shortened to Wis, and Cha is bad to say and doesn’t rhyme.

      • atopi@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        5·
        8 days ago

        language evolves; it will transform intro “Lizards”

        this actually the plan of The Government™ ran by evil reptilian people

  • VivianRixia@piefed.socialEnglish
    43·
    8 days ago

    So, calling someone a bast-ard, implies that their mother slept around on many beds that weren’t the marriage bed. Does that mean it all comes back to calling your mother a whore?

      • drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        13·
        8 days ago

        I think in English there is also:

        • Comparing the subject to an animal, such as a dog.
        • Slurs for various minorities.
        • Names for ‘vulgar’ body parts, or the act of sex itself.
        • Names for human waste products.
        • Literal ‘curse words’, such as “damn” or “hell”, which imply the subject will go to, or just allude to the existence of, the Christian hell.
        • Literal swears, as in oaths. This is pretty rare in modern English aside from "I swear to god… ". The word “gadzooks” is actually a minced version of “God’s Hooks” (the nails used in the crucifixion), which was probably shortened from “I swear on God’s Hooks”. Its pretty funny how something that was probably deadly serious in the past has been diluted so much that now only cartoon characters say it.
        • Literal profanity, as in invoking the holy in an improper context. This has a lot of overlap with the previous two categories.

        I don’t really know anything about linguistics, but these seem like the categories to me. In addition to the “alludes to the sexual impropriety of the subject (if female) or the subject’s mother (if male)” category.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        8 days ago

        “Yer daddy was a 2 pump chump!”

        Edit: Not sure how that comes back to “mom’s a whore”

  • stray@pawb.socialEnglish
    35·
    8 days ago

    It’s not “too” something; it’s just being strong (hardy) or remarkable in that trait. A lot of sources list it as derogatory, but it isn’t so in all instances of use.

    A wizard is not too wise, but very wise. Renard or Reinhardt is someone who gives good advice or makes good decisions.

    The “must” in mustard is juice and pulp which you intend to ferment, because grape must was an ingredient. There’s a lot of debate over whether the “ard” is the one in this post or ardens (burning).

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      The “must” in mustard is juice and pulp which you intend to ferment, because grape must was an ingredient. There’s a lot of debate over whether the “ard” is the one in this post or ardens (burning).

      So the mustard seed was named after (as in post) the condiment?

      • stray@pawb.socialEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        Yes. It’s not too unusual for that sort of thing to happen. Feverfew and lungwort are plants named after their medicinal uses, and the tea plant and rubber tree are named for what they produce. Wheat means white, referring to the ground flour.

        A lot of things might have had other names before a use was discovered, or they just might not have been named by anyone yet. I think most plants have probably had lots of different regional names within the same language. Flowers seem to collect a lot of names; I think they make us poetic because they tended to interact with human culture in many ways.

    • FishFace@piefed.socialEnglish
      4·
      8 days ago

      “Wizard” historically had a negative connotation though.

      It’s to be expected that an old suffix can have multiple meanings.

      • stray@pawb.socialEnglish
        7·
        8 days ago

        It could have a negative connotation. One could be a genuine wise man or essentially a snake oil salesman, so the word could be applied in both ways. It’s like how we use “genius” as an insult; we’re using the word in an ironic and sarcastic way.

        Here is a collection of various uses throughout history:

        https://www.oed.com/dictionary/wizard_n?tab=meaning_and_use

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    8 days ago

    This is largely true. English takes ‘-ard’ from Old French. MW defines it as:

    one that is characterized by performing some action, possessing some quality, or being associated with some thing especially conspicuously or excessively

    The main point is that it’s generally just a pejorative suffix.

    Citing the Trésor de la langue française informatisé, however, Wiktionary puts forward a surprisingly cogent counterargument and alternative etymology to the “packsaddle” one for “bastard”.

    • helvetpuli@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      11·
      8 days ago

      French still has this feature, for instance a driver is a chauffeur, and a bad driver is a chauffard. Some one who goes overboard with partying is a fêtard, etc.