I’m so sorry that this happened to you. You are FAR from being overly sensitive about this, and any reasonable and decent would agree. Full stop.

It must’ve been so hard to hold it in this whole time. This is such a horrible thing to go through, especially for such a young child, and for such an extended period of time, no less. Fuck, I wish I could give child you a big hug.

I hope you know that this wasn’t your fault.

I’m sorry for the other little boy, too. I’m sure you’re right about his home life. It’s sick how abuse can spread so easily.

Used to be that all that was necessary to understand one’s implication when using the word was situational and maybe cultural context.

When do you feel this has changed?

Because from what I can tell, it still is that way. Both meanings of “weird” that we’re discussing (and, surely, the rest of its meanings) ARE the result of cultural changes.

Now, personal context is needed for both the speaker and the subject - you need to know the political/ethical proclivities of both the speaker and subject to know whether it’s meant as an insult or compliment.

You understood what those people meant when they used “weird” negatively. Did you know the political/ethical proclivities of every single person? Did you have to comb through their post/comment histories for information to be able to translate what they said? Or, did you infer what they meant based on the context of the post and the culture of the community?

Yes, non-native speakers will struggle more; this language is a particularly difficult one to learn, and envy no one who is trying to learn it as a 2nd/3rd/ect. language. English’s fluidity isn’t exactly something that is unique to it, though.

What do you propose is the alternative? We can’t exactly stop cultural evolution… why would we want to, anyway?

Really, the only difference now is that we have the internet, which just makes it change a lot more rapidly. It’s all still the result of culture, though.

👀 I’m sorry to say this, but I actually might be getting some version of these. It WOULD be cute, imo, and they (especially the brightly-colored ones) make me feel little nostalgic.

I lose my phone embarrassingly frequently. I have a wrist/necklace strap now, but I really don’t enjoy walking around with my annoyingly heavy phone dangling from my neck/wrist all the time, so I rarely actually use them.

I’ll probably be finding away to attach a keyring to my TV remote, too 🙄

Ah, that makes sense lol. Glad to help!

can’t have short hair at one of my jobs

I’m really curious about what kind of job that could be lol

Do you use a diffuser?

As originalucifer said, language is fluid; it always has been, and will continue to be so. Its mutability one of the many things that makes it so incredible.

Many, many words mean different things in different contexts. The fact that “weirdo” is used negatively sometimes does not mean it can’t/doesn’t get used positively elsewhere.

How could it be anything but a 10?

Trying to mentally/emotionally distance myself from my “customer service” job. Like, pretending I’m not a CSR, but that I’m playing the role of a CSR in a show, or something. After over 10 years working jobs like this, and for multiple reasons, the stress and asshole customers have been making me even even more miserable than necessary lately.

At the very least, this is helping me stay cool-headed and friendly enough to piss off angriest/most condescending callers, which can be pretty cathartic sometimes. It’s not so effective when it’s overwhelmingly busy, though.

Also, calling my lawyer, which was extremely stressful to me for literally no logical reason. Actually, I had a reason to look forward to it.

Technically, they just taste like pork, so you might be ok?

For just 30 minutes, no less???

The bottles in the US also have safety seals for the same reason

We dont want to marry a 304.

Plenty of "304"s ARE married. Sorry to disappoint.

a pandemic of single females

This is so funny to me, because single women are overall happier than married women, and for very good reasons.

This is far from being a pandemic. It’s a liberation… from shitty men like you, who insist that they’re the prize, simply because they are men. This has been a looooonnnggg time coming.

Nah, it’s cute on her

It’s really frustrating how little value so many adults assign to the thoughts and feelings of kids. I felt the effects of that a lot while growing up.

Idk. If it were up to me, I think I’d make the voting age maybe 14 or 15. It’s not that an 8-year-old’s feelings don’t matter (to me, at least), but you need to allow them enough time and brain development to be able to start to learn about and understand these kinds of things.

There should also be accompanying education surrounding different political ideologies, history, policies, propaganda tactics, ect., but I’m sure that’d be very unpopular with a lot of parents.

I’m horribly afraid of heights and can’t even stomach a normal wall climb (like with a harness and everything) without quivering like a leaf.

Also most BIG bugs, especially if they have a lot of legs… though I think I’d probably be fine with a tarantula, for some reason. No idea why. The small ones are usually fine, minus wasps and hornets.

I’m kind of afraid of the dark too, but it’s also not really about the darkness itself. I’ll find myself vividly envisioning things like a snarling wolf suddenly lunging from the darkness to tear my throat out, or a large, unhinged man sneaking up behind me, or some shit like that. It usually only happens outdoors in rural areas where nights are much darker, which allows my imagination to run more wildly than usual. Thankfully, I live in a city now.

Not needing to eat would definitely be a huge strength.

Of course not needing to eat would be a strength. There’s a significant difference between that and what I said, though. Not eating when you need to is not the same as not needing to eat at all. There is no choice but to eat if you are to survive, just as there is no choice but to cry when you need to in order to be mentally and emotionally well.

Crying IS the mental breakdown. It’s what you do when you need someone else’s help because you can’t do it yourself(weakness).

I strongly disagree. Crying is only a release of emotion on its own. Just because someone is crying doesn’t inherently mean that they’re having a mental breakdown.

I’m a crier. It’s extremely fucking annoying, but nevertheless a part of me. I weep when I’m sad, stressed, pissed off. On occasion, I even shed happy tears.

Am I having a mental breakdown when I cry while watching a sad movie? When I’m justifiably angry about an injustice in the world or my personal life? Definitely not.

I’ve experienced more than my fair share of real mental breakdowns, but that number is dwarfed by the number of times I’ve cried.

A The problem here is that people prey on you when they see that weakness, and a civilized society should not do this.

While that’s true, it doesn’t change the fact that we need an emotional outlet to be well. Those emotions will be there whether or not you release them when you feel the need to.

If you try to suppress them, you’re more likely to be incapacitated by them—even physically—if they eventually become too much to handle. It’s just postponing a smaller weakness for a larger one later on.

Sure. Though you could argue that needing food, water, and sleep is a sign of weakness, too.

Simply existing automatically comes with these “weaknesses”, so I don’t see the point in assigning them with a negative value, as your perspective seems to. I doubt many people would claim that not drinking water is a sign of strength. Why should crying be any different?

Now, having a mental breakdown because you haven’t allowed yourself to feel your emotions, though? Or lashing out at others because you haven’t learned how to regulate yourself? Now, that’s about as emotionally and mentally weak as you can get.

I’m sorry. That’s so shitty. I really don’t get women who are like that. The ability to express emotion (in a healthy way) is one of the most attractive traits one can have, imo.

My AMAB (and non-binary, though they didnt realize that until like 9 years into our relationship) partner has cried in front of me COUNTLESS times. Because they’re a fucking human being who has feelings. It’s really not hard to understand if you take even just one moment to empathize.

Nah, he’s just a racist piece of shit.

The Used were the first band I ever saw live! I should give their albums another listen soon.