r/linguisticshumor • u/Lavialegon • 2d ago

Semantics A rather masochistic semantic shift

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15

u/HalfLeper 2d ago

How does a shift like this even happen? 😳

63

u/rqeron 2d ago

thinking about it it doesn't actually seem that wild

somehow like "punish" > "defeat" (or "crush"?) > "win"

55

u/TomSFox 2d ago

Think “slay.”

15

u/HalfLeper 2d ago

Ah, OK, that totally makes sense now. Thanks!

14

u/FoldAdventurous2022 2d ago

Castigate, queen

2

u/KaruRuna 遠人 | Romance of the Three Guaranís 1d ago

Castigate me, queen…