Words that lost their meaning in 2020

Criminal is the first thing that comes to mind. Nothing was illegal in 2020 as long as you were protesting.

Conservative.

Hypocrisy
Impartiality
Respect
Common sense (yeah I know 2 words but still)
Leadership

The ones mentioned above are appropriate.

It’s two words - but “Dry Spell” has new meaning after the NJ shutdown.

All of the above, plus:

Mostly peaceful (alone or together)
Diversity
Equity
Inclusion
Diplomacy
Progress
Controversial

Compromise

Although I agree that most of the above words have lost their meaning the majority lost their meaning before 2020 came along.

Social - the only time you hear it mentioned anymore is in the context of "social distancing" and staying away from each other is the antithesis of being social.

Debate - instead of debating when we disagreed on any topic in 2020 the whole world just decided to dig in their heels and refused to listen to to an opposing viewpoint.

Capitalism - instead of letting the free market decide which businesses were going to survive a bad situation we allowed politicians to decide which businesses were "essential" and which weren't thereby deciding which would survive and which weren't.

Essential - Big box stores were deemed essential while small independent specialty retailers were shuttered as non-essential.

Law & Order

America

Journalism. Now it’s just tendentious stories with a biased point of view including only the information to make their political point.

Fifteen

As in Fifteen days to flatten the curve

Science. As in follow the science. Why can't they just admit that they don't know what to do. States like CA, with hard shutdowns, has twice the covid rate per 100K than states that have been wide open for a while.

Gender - used to be a genetic fact, now it is a whim.

Smiles - Thanks to covid masks, it is now something done with her eyes.

Delusional - Now just a different point of view. Thanks to the internet, if you believe, say, pigeon poop is a cancer cure, you can find like minded individuals.

Landslide - 2016 landslide is a 2020 too close to call.

The salt in this thread is enough to build a mound bigger than everest.

“We’re all in this together”.

Ummmm, no we’re not.

Equality.

Now equality simply means equal when its convenient, and when not, some sort of ist or ism applies.

nigger

It is in the vernacular of every rapper and is even used as a term of endearment. It no longer has the shock value it did in the 1960's. Half the time you hear it, it is whites or Latinos addressing each other as niggers.

Plan, works, masks, distances, quarantine, vote, unemployment, work, jobs, paycheck, faithless, political

At this point does anything have a meaning, except political gain and lies? The only thing both parties have in common is being a joke and not knowing it

Distance

Reason why California is seeing so many cases is directly related to the shutdowns. While in theory the shutdowns seem to make sense (limit the amount of people out in public), in practice it fails due to the government's trust in people to stay at home. The high risk events that account for majority of recent cases are gatherings at home and not dining in public.

I can't tell you how many people I know who's parents cancelled Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner, so they decided to hold a "Friendsgiving" or other gathering in which someone later tested positive and all of the people in attendance must now self-quarantine and get tested. The spirit of the shutdown is to limit your exposure to others, but I think you can't underestimate the human factor of people being social creatures.

Back to the topic...the word I feel that has lost all meaning this year is what twentyfive mentioned: compromise. Regardless where you stand politically, socially, or even racially, I feel that no one is willing to listen to the other side and have an intelligent discussion. People are doubling-down and are unwilling to admit whether their ideas/beliefs may not be the best/correct. Generally, this type of behavior is not only divisive, but characteristic of people with who lack intelligence. We really took a step backwards this year and need to do better in 2021.

Self defense - as in it doesn't matter if a person is obviously defending themselves or their property, they can still be charged with a crime if it fits the narrative.

"sexual preference"

Webster changed it's definition during the supreme court confirmation hearings.

"riot" "protest"

AP news has something called a Stylebook and they've changed the meanings of many words this year.

nationalreview.com

Bet throwing a statue of MLK in a river wouldn't be called a protest.

^
Well maybe if it could swim. :D

Listening. It seems like it’s less and less common to actually listen to another point of view. Rather, it’s easier to cherry pick points of view we want to listen to.