Newspeak

[Bozo Erectus]

When I was a kid, and really, up until very recently, the words " blowing off" meant something completely different than it does today. Without going into detail of course, the old meaning referred to a particular sex act. Today it means to reject, to give the cold shoulder to. Just the other day a commercial came on for one of those teen angst shows, I dont know which one. A guy goes "Dude! She totally blew you off!" Caught me completely by surprise and I almost pissed in my pants it was so funny. Its pretty amazing how quickly everyday language can change. When I was a kid if somebody said 'she blew you off' on national teleivision, peoples heads would have exploded.

Any other examples of that? Best not to dwell on the one in the OP, lest the thread get closed

 

[El_Machinae]

gay and fag spring to mind

geek, too

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Good ones. Another is 'Queer'. That would have been bleeped out when I was a kid, today the word can go in the shows title The 'n-word' has gone from being verboten, to briefly acceptable, and now its verboten again, but still much more acceptable than it would have been 20 or 25 years ago.

 

[El_Machinae]

Well, when I was a kid, the fellow's name was N-word Jim. Now, a politician cannot even say niggardly.

 

[IglooDame]

Hmmm, I think I'm roughly the same age as BE, but the OP term has always had the "ignore" connotation to me. Slightly different terminology for the verboten meaning.

Can't think of any others, except that what I'm supposed to call black people and handicapped people has changed at least twice in the last 20 years.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Hmmm, I think I'm roughly the same age as BE, but the OP term has always had the "ignore" connotation to me. Slightly different terminology for the verboten meaning.

Ohhh, wait a minute, maybe its a regional thing. You grew up in New England right? Maybe it only ever had that meaning around here, where I live.

 

[IglooDame]

Ohhh, wait a minute, maybe its a regional thing. You grew up in New England right? Maybe it only ever had that meaning around here, where I live.

Upstate NY, which puts me in "network news English" country as far as accents and most meanings are concerned.

Anyway, dunno.

 

[warpus]

When I was a kid, and really, up until very recently, the words " blowing off" meant something completely different than it does today. Without going into detail of course, the old meaning referred to a particular sex act. Today it means to reject, to give the cold shoulder to. Just the other day a commercial came on for one of those teen angst shows, I dont know which one. A guy goes "Dude! She totally blew you off!" Caught me completely by surprise and I almost pissed in my pants it was so funny. Its pretty amazing how quickly everyday language can change. When I was a kid if somebody said 'she blew you off' on national teleivision, peoples heads would have exploded.

Really?

In these parts the sexual act would be referred to as "getting blown off", but without the "off" And as far as I know that's been the use for at least a decade.

 

[Sisiutil]

I always find stories of North American versus British slang amusing.

One of my teaching methods profs was British. He emigrated to Canada and got a job teaching Jr. High. In one of his first classes, he told a room full of 14-year-olds to "get out your rubbers".



(For those not familiar with the two idioms, "rubber" in Britain = a pencil eraser; "rubber" in North America = a condom. Quite a difference.)

As you can imagine, he had trouble getting anything done in that class after that.

 

[Rossiya]

When I was a kid, and really, up until very recently, the words " blowing off" meant something completely different than it does today. Without going into detail of course, the old meaning referred to a particular sex act. Today it means to reject, to give the cold shoulder to. Just the other day a commercial came on for one of those teen angst shows, I dont know which one. A guy goes "Dude! She totally blew you off!" Caught me completely by surprise and I almost pissed in my pants it was so funny. Its pretty amazing how quickly everyday language can change. When I was a kid if somebody said 'she blew you off' on national teleivision, peoples heads would have exploded.

"to blow off" means "to fart" or "to break wind" in British English.

 

[Mathilda]

Rubber has both meanings in British English.
No idea how much giggling it causes in schools though.

 

[IglooDame]

Rubber has both meanings in British English.
No idea how much giggling it causes in schools though.

To say nothing of the Bugs Bunny meaning, which is essentially "galoshes"...

 

[Neomega]

never heard bjs referred to as "Blowing off"

"sucks" used to be a pretty bad swear, actually, now it is uber-common.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

'Ass' 'Damn' and 'Crap' are now completely acceptable on primetime TV but they were totally, absolutely verboten just 20 years ago.

 

[greekguy]

never heard bjs referred to as "Blowing off"

"sucks" used to be a pretty bad swear, actually, now it is uber-common.

all my older teachers really get pissed when people say sucks, while my the younger teachers don't care, and some use it themselves (my english teacher says "crap" a lot).

 

[IglooDame]

'Ass' 'Damn' and 'Crap' are now completely acceptable on primetime TV but they were totally, absolutely verboten just 20 years ago.

Probably similar circumstance to the use of 'bloody' in the UK - can any of you UK folks confirm/deny/abstain on this?

 

[Mise]

never heard bjs referred to as "Blowing off"

"sucks" used to be a pretty bad swear, actually, now it is uber-common.

Uber used to be a German word.