Asklemmy

I guess it's that weird has always been used to try to hurt us, it never stopped being used against the nerds and unusual kids. So a lot of my surprise is coming from the perspective of this is something new that's just now happening. To me, nothing has changed other than the word getting a temporary spotlight. Weird is still in the exact same space it was just a week ago, used as a reclaimed word for self expression and used as a derogatory word for those who are self expressing. How it's used derogatorily has always been nuanced, since there's the stereotype of the weird uncle (creepy) and the stereotype of the weird kid (unusual - ranging from school shooter to that kid with a really impeccable sense of fashion)

As people have used the word weird to describe themselves, maybe weird as an insult to us has gone down, but I'm just not sure why now it's any different that it's gotten use in general public as an insult.In my area, weird has been used to insult people for multiple decades. It's also been used by us as a general description of our weird group in the last few years. Neither of these meanings are related, or even come tangentially close.

Definitely not trying to dismiss people's feelings, I'm just not sure it needs to be as inflicting as it might feel. When it's used against conservatives it has less than nothing to do with you or I being weird, just like when it's used towards a weird uncle it has nothing to do with yours or my own weirdness, just like when we call ourselves weird it has nothing to do with weird uncles or weird conservatives. It covers a wide range and the reaction to socially ban the word seems unnecessary until there's a consequence.

Like, by all means be offended if someone calls you weird. I just think the reception from that will be quite varied, since some see weird as a positive self descriptor, this event completely unaffecting that notion, and some like we've seen share the sentiment you're highlighting. But balking at its usage would be equivalent to balking at being called haughty or any other regular adjective.

That is to say, being upfront to the person about their specific behavior may or may not be taken rudely based on how they feel about being confronted. If someone calls me weird, unless I am being inappropriate I shouldn't think anything of it. If I call someone weird, they shouldn't think anything of it unless they are being inappropriate. Other than that, it's entirely a matter of how comfortable I am being commented on and the context surrounding its usage.

And sometimes, it's simply "different". Weird can really just come down to something being unexpected. People think it's weird that I'm left handed, because it surprises them when they see it and it is uncommon.

The whole event of "weird" in public use the last week has been a variation of that. It is uncommon for a politician to have a scandal, true or not, about intimate relations with an inanimate object, and both in relation to and unrelated to the actions of you or I, that is honestly... Quite weird. Certainly, there could be other adjectives to use too, likely even better ones, but there is a certain emanence of normality being abnormalized which is why some feel the usage of it works so well. Specifically, it's being used against of people so deadset on being normal, which is why it's so effective because to them being weird is abnormal.

To the rest of us, normal is weird.

Remember when normie was used in the public sphere? Or NPC. Both of these were meant to bolster being weird and alienating being normal, because being weird was something to be prideful of. Now, why that was being expressed in a way to dismiss others normalness while bolstering ones own weirdness, I don't know.

So again, this isn't meaning to belittle or dismiss the way in which you interpret the word, pre- or post- these recent events and the usage of it after. Rather, an exploration that weird has always been used this way and never stopped, it was only further expanded upon by people who identified with a meaning of it. The way in which I've seen it used recently hasn't really been so much of a "how" it has been used, because there is no how, it has just been in sheer abundance. People are using it for calling out anything unusual from these politicians, which is different, fitting, and still unrelated to our purposes when we utilize weirdness. That is to say, every instance of seen it used has been a decree of "why did that person do this in this manner". And for the party that is dead set on normalcy, using weird as a way to point out specific behavior is a very strong method to show the hypocrisy.

Also for what it's worth, I'm fairly indifferent on the matter. I'm just a linguist with an interest in people's perception of colloquialisms, some feel one way, some feel another, and language makes way for both to exist simultaneously. While I personally don't think we should sunset a word immediately, because of this at least, as I said before it's not outside the realm of possibility. If society says that weird becomes a slur because we used it against conservatives and the meaning slipped so far from current meaning, then by all means we will reflect that in our day to day vocabulary. I would just be very surprised if that did happen from current circumstances.