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WSC 2020 - Social / Out with the Old

Terms in this set (40)

Diderot Effect
Is a phenomenon describing how if you buy one thing, you're more likely to buy another thing. (ex. if you buy salsa, you're probably going to buy chips as well)
Bandwagon Effect
Is a social phenomenon where if other people do something, you are more inclined to do it as well.
Biogeography
Is the study of how a same species differs in different environments.
Fad
A short lived trend.
Haute couture
French term for "high fashion", which is expensive, trend-setting, custom-made apparel.
Fast Fashion
Ultra-fast supply chain operations that focus on consumer demand of fashion goods.
Planned Obsolescence
Is where companies deliberately make their products have a short life span so people buy new ones.
Right to repair
Is a movement against policies of large corporations which put large barriers for consumers and individual to servicing and repairing their own electronics.
Woke
Is a term for meaning you have risen from the dead after sleeping. Although starting from the 2010s it means that you are left wing.
Semantic drift
Is when a word's meaning changes over time.
Nonplussed
Is a word that meant "I don't know" or "I can't even" or "Confusion" but starting from the 20th century, it started to mean "Unconcerned".
Disinterested
Is a word that means "Apathy" but has recently has acquired another meaning, "Unbiased". It acquired the latter term from a word that is very similar to its own.
Aggravated
A word that means "Make angry" but can also be used in a legal context as "Even worse". Although this word actually started by meaning "Heavy".
Extra
A word that means "Outside" or "More" but now it means "Unnecessarily Flashy".
Could care less
Is a term that is supposed to mean you don't care but it actually means you do care. This only happens if you're talking to a nitpicking and biased English teacher though.
Basic
Is a word that means "Fundamental" but has recently began to mean boring.
Bald faced
Is a word that means "Blatantly obvious" but has adopted another meaning from a similar word meaning "Brutish" or "Reckless".
Irregardless
A word that means "Notwithstanding". It actually means the same thing with or without the prefix.
Plethora
A word that means "Abundance" but used to mean "Fullness".
Awful
A word that means "0/10" but used to mean "10/10" in the 13th century.
Incredible
A word that means "10/10" but used to mean "Too good to be true".
Fortuitous
A word that means "Lucky" but originally meant "Happened by chance".
Super
A word that means "10/10" but used to mean "On top of something" in a literal sense. (On top of the fridge)
Etymology
Is the history of words based off of similar words.
Metaphor
Is a figure of speech involving a comparison without comparative words ("Like", "As", "Than") (Ex. "Jefferson had so much wool in his head, it would be foolish to pull it over his eyes.")
Synecdoche
Is a figure of speech using a part to refer to a whole or vice versa. (Ex. "Do you like my new wheels?" would refer to a car)
Metonymy
A figure of speech that uses something associated with another thing to refer to that thing. (Ex. the "Kremlin" would refer to Russia)
Generalization
When a certain word's meaning changes over time to include other areas where it didn't originally. (Ex. "Thing" originally meant a public assembly but has changed over time)
Specialization
When a certain word's meaning changes over time which makes it refer to a smaller variety of things than when it did originally. (Ex. "Deer" originally meant meat but then changed over time)
Analogy
A figure of speech using one thing as a comparison to another. (Ex. "Love is like war, both sides get hurt")
Hyperbole
A figure of speech using extreme exaggeration. (Ex. "Geraldo's ego was bigger than his head.")
Pejoration
When a word gains a negative connotation over time. (ex. Dictator used to mean someone in charge for emergency purposes but then changed to mean terrible leader)
Ameloration
When a word gains a positive connotation over time.
Word reappropriation
Is when a culture changes a word usually of derogatory nature is changed into a more socially acceptable word.
Great Vowel Shift
Was a period of time where the English pronunciation changed. some short vowels changed into long vowels. (Ex. "House" was pronounced as "Hoo-se" but then changed to be pronounced as "How-se")
Less
A qualitative description of something. Means it's not as good or worse than something else.
Fewer
A quantitative description of something. Means it's amount is not as large as something else.
Apocryphal
Of doubtful authenticity.
Shibboleth
A word or phrase that is unique to a certain group of people.
Nuclear semioticians
Are linguists who try to make the best long term way of conveying "Nuclear waste here, don't go any further" so that it endures the test of time and changes of language.
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