So apparently I'm a white supremacist now, because I took exception to somebody using the word woke in a derogatory sense.

@Bumbles ?

@LordShadowfire The left mislabels or denies it exists, and the right applies it too often.

@Bumbles If it helps, I copied and pasted the actual definition from the Merriam-Webster site. Some folks think Merriam-Webster is some kind of left-wing extremist propaganda site, but I trust you're smarter than that.

https://similarworlds.com/politics/4859045-Here-it-is-defined-for-everyone-to-see

@LordShadowfire I do think there is more to it. 🙊

@Bumbles I don't know what to tell you, other than take it up with Merriam-Webster, lol. Anyway, I don't feel like arguing with you, because I like you, so I guess we'll leave it at that.

@LordShadowfire I hear you, and almost didn't respond because I'm a bit worn out after the last couple of weeks. I like you too, so peace, brother!

Now I'll go on, when I shouldn't, because I'm fascinated by words and how language evolves. Just food for thought. People use words differently which is why there are secondary and tertiary definitions. Even the word literally now has a definition that means figuratively!

The folks at Merriam-Webster are individuals and also need to deal with political pressure. They are in publishing. They went to college. Adding a word itself takes many committees. A controversial word especially. They actually aren't the arbiters of contemporary usage. How a neologism is used is not entirely "up to" them. We know that people use the word "woke" to mean something else, as I sometimes do. PC means about the same to me.

If I use the word a certain way a lot of people will understand what I mean to convey. That's what makes a word have a definition. Not including that definition in a dictionary doesn't mean the word does not convey meaning.

If one does not think identify politics is an issue then I suspect "woke" would only be used in the anodyne way, i.e., concern for social justice.

The French philosopher Lyotard discussed this -- he called them language games.

Different strokes, so just my 2 cents.

@Bumbles Me, too. I could happily go on all day on the subject.
Well, yes. The original definition of the word woke is just the past tense of wake. The adjective form didn't come into use at all until the early to mid 20th century.
That makes me want to literally punch someone. 😆
And I suppose I've been committing the appeal to authority fallacy by saying that they themselves define it a certain way. The thing is, the word is now being used by the right to mean something completely different. I would personally call that misuse of the word.
That's a whole other can of worms. Did you know that the phrase "politically correct" was originally a running gag among liberals who were making fun of themselves, and conservatives just didn't get the joke?
Noted and understood. I only use the dictionary definitions available to prove to these people who are misusing it that it does have a particular meaning. As you've pointed out, the people at Merriam-Webster, and probably the other dictionaries as well, have to go through numerous steps to decide whether a new word (or in this case, a new definition of a word) is in wide enough use to be valid. That's why, when I'm arguing with people who call everything they hate woke, I give them dictionary definitions, not because the dictionary is the ultimate authority on everything, but because words have meanings, lol.

But you're right. The word woke is one of those things that are rapidly evolving, and can easily evolve into something bad. Already, people are using it to describe anything that isn't in keeping with their particular viewpoint.

@LordShadowfire I very much agree the Right uses it incorrectly to describe anything it doesn't like. And in fact, they may have ruined it.

What I don't like is the implication that there cannot be left wing "overreach" because the word used to describe such overreach is tainted. The same thing happened yesterday with the term anti-Semitism. I am not allowed to name names, but two people implied there is no such thing because "semite" refers to Arabs as well. Similarly, "Antifa" does not just mean anti-fascist. Most people oppose fascism but aren't Antifa, etc. I think it is worthy of note that all three examples are from the left. Language policing is their specialty!

I don't recall that about PC which I think started in the late 80s.

@Bumbles Well, I certainly didn't intend to imply such. However, it is my opinion based on observation that there's more overreach from the right. At the same time, I admit to some bias there. We all tend to look closer at the other guy's bad behavior, and less at our own.
Whereas the right tend to try to find newer and sneakier ways to use racial slurs. Did you know that under certain circumstances, the word Mondays has been used as a subtle reference to black people? As in "Nobody likes Mondays." That one blew me away.
I didn't find that out until just this past year. There was an article about it. Someone who was old enough to remember when it was being used in the mid-'80s. The first mainstream use I ever saw of that term was from conservatives complaining about liberals. I'm guessing that was the same context you saw it in?

@LordShadowfire Agreed -- more overreach from the right on all these counts. Yes, first time I heard of the issue of Mondays and the origins of PC, too! 😆