Webster’s

[LDAHL]

I have been listening to an audio book by Bill Bryson called The Mother Tongue He resoundingly shows that the English language is ever in flux. It is quirky what we call things. We want to be understood (one hopes) without giving offense (one hopes).

That is a great book.

And now, in addition to the traditional borrowing, discarding and coining new terms for new inventions, we see increased organized efforts to create and enforce the use of new terms for political and ideological purposes.

[happystuff]

I understand that language, words, verbiage changes all the time. What I don't like is when a word that represents something good/positive gets distorted/used/whatever and becomes something negative. For example "swastika" - originally, something religious and positive, turned into a word/symbol of negativity/hatred.

"In Buddhism, the swastika is considered to symbolize the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. It is an iconic symbol for the Buddha in many parts of Asia and homologous with the dharma wheel. The shape symbolizes eternal cycling, a theme found in samsara doctrine of Buddhism."

"In many Western countries, the swastika is now viewed as a symbol of racial supremacism and intimidation because of its association with Nazism."

[JaneV2.0]

What happened to a common spiritual and artistic symbol has also happened to the "OK" sign, which white supremacists have turned into a symbol of hate. Neither phenomena have much to do with spoken or written language.

[LDAHL]

Old Kinderhook wouldn’t be pleased with our current political semiotics, on any of the many sides currently contending. He was a practical guy.

[Alan]

What happened to a common spiritual and artistic symbol has also happened to the "OK" sign, which white supremacists have turned into a symbol of hate. Neither phenomena have much to do with spoken or written language.

You know I read about these things from time to time but have yet to experience many of these little signs that some liberals use to identify wrong thinkers. I think some sort of a "How To Spot People We Can Feel Good About Hating" publication for the rest of us not wanting to be identified as a white supremacists would be helpful.

[JaneV2.0]

You can start with this:

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/76472...symbol-of-hate

[bae]

So, I use the OK symbol all the time. It's part of the standard hand signals we use when working in high-noise environments and IDLH environments.

Do we have to retrain the whole organization because some 4chan jokesters are playing games with the language?

[iris lilies]

You know I read about these things from time to time but have yet to experience many of these little signs that some liberals use to identify wrong thinkers. I think some sort of a "How To Spot People We Can Feel Good About Hating" publication for the rest of us not wanting to be identified as a white supremacists would be helpful.

I know. Here I live in flyover country and in a fairly red state, and I travel to a red county in a rural area often. And yet here is Jane living in the enlightened PNW and she knows all about these symbols of oppression while I don’t.

I guess we’re here in the land of oppression would appreciate such a guide from the world of the enlightened.

[jp1]

I know. Here I live in flyover country and in a fairly red state, and I travel to a red county in a rural area often. And yet here is Jane living in the enlightened PNW and she knows all about these symbols of oppression while I don’t.

I guess we’re here in the land of oppression would appreciate such a guide from the world of the enlightened.

Jane, being the helpful person she is, provided one. Perhaps the reason you're not aware of these symbols is because the 'oppressed' white identity crowd in your area doesn't need to resort to subtle indicators to others and can just be open about their attitudes with others they know share their opinions. After all, if one is fairly confident about others opinions on a topic like this it isn't really necessary to be all subliminal and ask the 'white pride' version of 'are you a friend of dorothy?'

[iris lilies]

Jane, being the helpful person she is, provided one. Perhaps the reason you're not aware of these symbols is because the 'oppressed' white identity crowd in your area doesn't need to resort to subtle indicators to others and can just be open about their attitudes with others they know share their opinions. After all, if one is fairly confident about others opinions on a topic like this it isn't really necessary to be all subliminal and ask the 'white pride' version of 'are you a friend of dorothy?'

Well at least I was ahead of Jane in passing knowledge of symbology of gangster signs. We had a training session on that, not that it was important for us to learn gang signs but it was deemed important to train library staff about gang presence, how they define their neighborhoods, some examples of neighborhood ownership markers, How members identify and communicate with each other through symbols and colors and etc.