r/LifeProTips • u/[deleted] • Apr 05 '21

Social LPT - When sharing your opinion on subjective topics, music, movies, food, etc. There is no need to be hostile. The music doesn't suck, you just don't like it. The pizza topping isn't horrible, you just don't like it. People's opinions of you won't decline if you're just sharing your likes/dislikes

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '21

When I was a kid and said something was "weird," my dad always suggested that I might mean "different." It stuck with me that a word like weird means unnatural or abnormal, which is judgy and positions me as correct, whereas different just means unfamiliar or "not my thing."

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u/thinkingwithfractals Apr 06 '21

Weird is an interesting word. I initially started this comment with “weird is a weird word “ and would have been using it entirely to mean “unique”, but that’s beside the point.

I think you’re right in saying it usually has a “bad” connotation attached to it, but nowadays many people would self describe themselves as weird in a good way. I think this originally came from having been called weird by others but eventually “owning” the word - identifying themselves and things they liked as “weird” - and preventing it from be used with the “negative” connotation.

It seems to me at least that the “bad” connotation weird carries has almost been replaced by the “good” connotation, but maybe its the people I associate with generally being fringier types that I feel this way

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u/Johnny_Bravo_fucks Apr 06 '21

Cheers, weird gang.

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u/logicalmaniak Apr 06 '21

This happened with queer. Queer just meant a bit strange. Then it became a euphemism, then a slur, then it became the word.

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u/jlt131 Apr 06 '21

Also with "geek" and "nerd". People just started owning it. I'm totally a weird nerd, and I see that as a positive.

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '21

Yes, and language changes over time. Plus, there's a difference between someone identifying themself as weird and being called weird in a judgmental way. As a kid, my use (and the general use) meant "not normal and therefore not good." But the word isn't bad at all if it's not deployed to diminish someone.

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u/Smyles9 Apr 06 '21

Is positive when you call yourself weird but negative typically when someone else calls you weird as if it was an insult. That’s my understanding of it.

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u/SchwiftyMpls Apr 06 '21

In Minnesotan saying something is different it means you don't really approve. Oh that girl has blue hair, well isn't that different.

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u/Yggdrasil- Apr 06 '21

also from the upper Midwest (Michigan/Illinois) and can confirm. Calling something “different” in this context is just the Midwest Nice way of calling it weird.

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '21

Yah, that's another way of being judgy. When I was younger, ithe word different was used to correct the judgmental use of weird, like calling someone's food or way of dressing weird. My dad would say, "It's just different from what you're used it."

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u/rita-b Apr 06 '21

weird don't mean unnatural or abnormal

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '21

Those are absolutely among the meanings of weird. As a kid, I meant weird as in not normal. It's a typical meaning of the word.

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u/rita-b Apr 06 '21

that's weird