Can someone define woke for me?

No one? So black people still using it correctly don't count?

 

I thought once the least cool white people on earth started using a word, black people abandoned it. Maybe there are still black people saying "for shizzle" too, I dont know.

 

I wouldn’t lump in “woke” with “for shizzle”. Woke isn’t a passing fad. Also we aren’t talking about continued use, we are talking about definition.

 

My point is meaning of the word has changed because it's been misused and misappropriated over time. This happens with many words, sadly.

Language of tricky. When you say the definition of woke hasn't changed, you're describing the prescriptive definition... how it should be used. How it's actually being used by people right now is the descriptive definition. We see the divergence of these two types of definitions wreak havoc on discussion forums like ours.

 

I really liked the original Lord of the Ring series.
I've watched the first three episodes of the new series and it is boring as hell!
Not sure that "woke" has anything to do with it.

 

It doesn't really have a definition anymore, that's why I said there isn't anyone using it unironically or non-pejoratively. Even people using it sincerely, if they still do, cant avoid the irony of it given its "new" definition(s).

 

It makes perfect sense to me. It's code for Black.

 

"Stay woke" is a phrase coined by black people used to remind each other to be alert/aware, become enlightened on their history, and not "sleep" on the dangers (mostly race-based) that await them in America. Since there is a contingent that scoffs at the notion of racism affecting black people in America, and scoffs at the events that occurred in black history, naturally they scoffed and mocked the term, then took it and used it in negative fashion.

 

The radical right has done a supreme job of making normally positive words negative. Woke, liberal, progressive, etc. It's a strategy that has worked to some extent.

woke
adjective
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\ ˈwōk \
woker; wokest
Definition of woke
(Entry 1 of 2)

chiefly US slang
: aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)


We have a new law in Florida - Stop Woke

 

Well, you should qualify it as the definition… to people that never knew the old definition… is different from the original definition which is still in use by its original users. What bothers me is the implication that all of a sudden because a certain demographic is using the word in one way that now the original users and definition don’t count.

 

What are you taking about? Seriously.

It doesn’t have a definition anymore to who? What makes you think that nobody uses it in proper context anymore? Am I nobody? There are many people who still use woke as it was created and intended.

 

It doesn't have a singular agreed upon definition anymore, whether you use it in its "proper context" or not. The fact that its used so often and widely in improper contexts now makes using it in the proper context ironic. Its become ironic because the improper context is essentially the "correct" usage now in popular culture.

 

Well, saying it doesn’t have a singular agreed upon definition is not the same as what you previously said, which is that it has no definition anymore.

You also said that “nobody” uses it in its proper form anymore, which is extremely ignorant. Maybe in your own sphere of influence this is true, but it’s not true, in general.

 

Stupidity

 

So do you think there are more people using it "correctly" than "incorrectly?" That doesn't seem to be the case in the broader culture.

 

Why is that important? I’m not going to go down every rabbit hole.

 

Because you said what I said was not true "in general."

 

The misuse of woke reminds me of what happened to the word gay. We all know its proper definition, and how it used to be such an easy word for rhyming in songs and poetry. But the word was appropriated by the homosexual community, to the extent that the word gay can't be used at all anymore in its original sense, whether in songs, poetry, or conversation. If someone is called gay today, it means only one thing, you can forget about the dictionary.

While woke is still used in the black community in its original sense, there's no community in which gay can be used in its original sense, so there the similarity ends. But gay and woke are both good examples of how words get appropriated by folks for their own purposes. (Can't think of another one offhand.)

 

So your argument is basically saying that the word “literally” no longer has a real definition because most people started using it incorrectly? I still use it the correct way, despite common misuse.