[Ads-l] delulu!

[Jonathan Lighter]

I'm shocked [,] shocked.

JL

On Mon, Dec 4, 2023 at 8:35 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

> Like “delusional”, but not quite. Here’s an explanation from Matt Barros,
> a former Yale colleague (and esteemed participant in the Yale Grammatical
> Diversity Project):
>
> ============
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/23/style/delulu-tiktok-gen-z-millenials.html
> <
> https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/23/style/delulu-tiktok-gen-z-millenials.html
> >
>
> Words change in meaning as people collectively repurpose them in different
> contexts, said Matthew Barros, a professor of linguistics at Washington
> University in St. Louis who was first introduced to delulu by one of his
> students.
> Like “crazy crazy” or “haunted haunted,” the repetitious element of delulu
> is “funny and it has a sort of cutesy feel to it,” Professor Barros said.
> That cutesy feel is what separates delusional (which can prompt concern)
> from delulu (which Ms. Bernardo, the content creator, likens to being in a
> “silly, goofy mood.”)
>
> =============
>
> --a viable WOTY candidate, or am I just delulu?
>
> LH
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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