5-417: Dork is a pejorative term for a person (compare with " dweeb " and " fool "). Dork may also refer to: Pejorative A pejorative word, phrase, slur , or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism , hostility , or disregard. Sometimes,
10-431: A term is regarded as pejorative in some social or ethnic groups but not in others or may be originally pejorative but later adopt a non-pejorative sense (or vice versa ) in some or all contexts. The word pejorative is derived from a Late Latin past participle stem of peiorare , meaning "to make worse", from peior "worse". In historical linguistics , the process of an inoffensive word becoming pejorative
15-423: Is a form of semantic drift known as pejoration . An example of pejoration is the shift in meaning of the word silly from meaning that a person was happy and fortunate to meaning that they are foolish and unsophisticated. The process of pejoration can repeat itself around a single concept, leaping from word to word in a phenomenon known as the euphemism treadmill , for example as in the successive pejoration of
20-510: Is described as reclamation or reappropriation . Examples of a word that has been reclaimed by portions of the community that it targets is queer , faggot and dyke which began being re-appropriated as a positive descriptor in the early 1990s by activist groups. However, due to its history and – in some regions – continued use as a pejorative, there remain LGBT individuals who are uncomfortable with having this term applied to them. The use of
25-415: The terms bog-house , privy-house , latrine , water closet , toilet , bathroom , and restroom (US English). When a term begins as pejorative and eventually is adopted in a non-pejorative sense, this is called melioration or amelioration . One example is the shift in meaning of the word nice from meaning a person was foolish to meaning that a person is pleasant. When performed deliberately, it
#621378