amelioration of "shock"

Dan Goncharoff thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Sat Sep 20 15:31:42 UTC 2014


To me shock, which is negative, is being used a synonym for stun, which is
neutral.
On Sep 20, 2014 11:01 AM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      amelioration of "shock"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Maybe this was mentioned before. I've been noticing it for several years.
>
> Now in the pop media it very frequently means "pleased and surprised;
> moved"
>
> Yahoo! News offers a paradigm example:
>
>
> "Tim McGraw shocked at daughter's singing debut...
> The country star says 12-year-old Audrey inherited her mother Faith Hill's
> pitch and tone....'I had tears running down my face.'"
>
>
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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