Skunked Term

A skunked term is a word or phrase that becomes difficult to use because it is evolving from one meaning to another, perhaps inconsistent or even opposite, usage, or that becomes difficult to use due to other controversy surrounding the term. Purists may insist on the old usage, while descriptivists may be more open to newer usages. Readers may not know which sense is meant especially when prescriptivists insist on a meaning that accords with interests that often conflict.

The term was coined by the lexicographer Bryan A. Garner in ''Garner's Modern American Usage'' and has since been adopted by some other style guides.Ben Yagoda, ''How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them'', , 2013, p. 82 and ''passim''.

Usage

Garner recommends avoiding such terms if their use may distract readers from the intended meaning of a text.

Some terms, such as " fulsome", may become skunked, and then eventually revert to their original meaning over time.

Examples in English

Terms with opposite meanings

*''Humbled'' originally meant "brought low" but is often used to mean "honored".
*"It's all downhill from here" originally meant to become easier but is widely used to mean becoming worse or more difficult.
* A ''moot point'' in British English has historically meant a point that is worth debating, but the meaning is shifting towards that in US English of a point that is irrelevant or academic.
*A " steep learning curve" was used in psychology from the 1920s to describe the quick and easy acquisition of skill; it was adopted more widely in the 1970s with the opposite meaning, describing a difficult and arduous process.

Terms with potential to offend

* '' Niggardly'' means "miserly" or "parsimonious", but is rarely used in modern English because it is easily confused with the slur '' nigger'', despite their separate etymologies.
* '' Oriental'' originally referred to anything associated with the east or orient, including the Middle East, and including people. More recently, the term has come to refer to East Asia exclusively, and use of the word to describe people has become offensive.
*The words ''faggot'' and '' fag'' have various meanings in British English (such as a ''faggot'' being a meat dish or a bundle of sticks, and a ''fag'' being a cigarette) but in the United States they are homophobic slurs.

Terms similar to sexual terms

* ''Cum'' is a Latin word used in English to mean "with" ( summa cum laude) or "along with being" ( he was a farmer-cum-poet), but in informal contexts it is increasingly associated with semen and related meanings.
* ''Ejaculate'' means to "exclaim", but it is now more commonly used to refer to the emission of semen in orgasm.
* ''Intercourse'' means communication or dialogue, but this is now largely obsoleted by its (metaphoric or metonymic) use for the act of sex.

Other terms

* " Begging the question" originally refers to the informal fallacy of assuming the conclusion, but is used to mean "evading the question" or "raising the question".
* ''Biweekly'' has come to mean either "occurring every two weeks" or "occurring twice a week". The same ambiguity exists for the word ''bimonthly''.
* ''Data'' and ''media'' have come to ambiguously describe both singular and plural entities, with the singular forms ''datum'' and ''medium'' declining in use.
* ''Disinterested'' is widely used to mean "uninterested" whereas the primary meaning is "unbiased".
* ''Drug'' can mean both pharmaceutical medicines and illegal recreational psychoactive substances like cocaine or heroin.
* ''Enormity'' used to mean "horror" but has come to mean "great size", likely due to confusion with the word "enormous".
* "The exception that proves the rule" originally meant that an exception stipulated in a rule establishes the existence of the rule outside the exception, but is generally used to mean an anomaly to a trend, while some argue that it should mean a case that tests the validity of a rule.
* '' Gays former meaning of "cheerful and carefree" has largely been lost due to its more recent meaning of "homosexual".
* '' Hopefully'' used to mean "in a hopeful manner" but has come to mean "it is hoped" since the early 1960s.
* ''Inflammable'' means "prone to catching fire", but is sometimes interpreted to mean "not flammable" due to the fact that the English prefix ''in-'' usually suggests "not". Due to potential dangers of the word confusion, ''inflammable'' has seen a decrease in usage in the last decades, while the word ''nonflammable'' is used instead to mean "not flammable".
* " The turn of the n-th century" is ambiguous as to which century is ending and which is beginning. For example, "the turn of the 17th century" may refer to the period around the year 1601 (the beginning of the 17th century) or around the year 1700 (the end).
* '' Literally'' is widely used with metaphorical language for emphasis.

See also

* Contronym
* Malapropisms, some of which may become skunked terms

References

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Lexicology