pejoration of "stuff?"

[James Harbeck]

We could be looking at a nascent bifurcation such as has happened
with "substance" -- which has taken on a specific subset meaning in
some contexts, first from "substance abuse" (the expanded way of
saying "drug abuse") but also showing up elsewhere: when I was at
Tufts in the 1990s, they instituted a "substance-free house" (they
have assorted special-interest houses, which are student residences
in three-storey houses -- a friend of mine lived in the Russian
House). A most charming and amusing image, no? It meant, of course,
that any substance of the abusable sort was prohibited in the house.
(I see, on looking at their website, that it no longer exists. Which
only makes sense, when you think about it -- it was a mirage all
along anyway.)

James Harbeck.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org