stupid = 'very pleasing; marvelous'

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The label "stupidest" has been applied to the mobile app "Yo" using
the conventional pejorative sense of "stupidest". Below is an example:

Title: The stupidest $1 million app ever has already been hacked
Author: Brad Reed
Timestamp: Jun 20, 2014 at 8:30 PM

https://bgr.com/2014/06/20/yo-app-for-ios-android-hacked/

[Begin excerpt]
Who would have thought that the stupidest $1 million app in world
history would have shoddy security? Yo, the inexplicably dumb new
messaging app that was created in just eight hours and has raised $1
million in funding, has already been hacked by college students at
Georgia Tech.
[End excerpt]

The statement: "this promotion is just as awesomely stupid as you
think it is" might be laudatory or critical. It seems to be a
specialized form of wordplay congratulating and criticizing Motorola
on the advertising campaign which combines a smartwatch and an app
that is widely viewed as dumb.

Garson


On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 10:07 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      stupid = 'very pleasing; marvelous'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This has been around for some years, but perhaps never moreblatantly as in
> this ad:
>
> "It=E2=80=99s an unlikely pairing: The world=E2=80=99s smartest looking sma=
> rtwatch and the
> world=E2=80=99s stupidest mobile app. And yet they have indeed teamed up, b=
> ecause
> mobile app Yo has just announced that 'Motorola is going to use the Yo
> platform to release their long awaited Moto 360 smart watch.' And yes, this
> promotion is just as awesomely stupid as you think it is."
>
> For some of, of course, the sense is equivocal.
>
> But only for some.
>
> JL
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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