Unc’s a term that’s been in use since at least the 90s (but maybe older; I’m not a historian nor was alive then); it can sometimes be used disparagingly though, generally, it’s usually a sort of familiar way to refer to someone that’s older. Kind of similar in the way “cuz” doesn’t literally refer to someone who’s your cousin but someone you’re familiar with, who’s like family in the same way a cousin might be (you didn’t grow up with them, didn’t see them all the time, but you’re familiar with them).
So it’s not hard to see how this new definition came about but it is, still, sort of just plucking the word and modifying it to a very different context (the disparaging form was definitely not the predominant form and there was a degree of fondness or respect for your elders in the term which this new usage completely eradicates through patronizing that I can’t help but notice is more community-destructing than community-building). While this is a phenomenon that is far from new, it’s felt particularly manufactured in the last decade and a half or so (probably due to the ease with which things can become viral in our current Hellscape-form of Internet); a lot of the “slang” that’s hit mainstream awareness has felt almost more like buzzwords than actual slang or even natural language in the way it’s been used. That’s not directly relevant to your question but just something I’ve been thinking about.
Also, thanks for asking, rather than downvoting; it’s (obviously) not everyone but there’s a non-negligible segment of Lemmy that just seems to have an emotional tantrum every time race comes up.
How so?
Unc’s a term that’s been in use since at least the 90s (but maybe older; I’m not a historian nor was alive then); it can sometimes be used disparagingly though, generally, it’s usually a sort of familiar way to refer to someone that’s older. Kind of similar in the way “cuz” doesn’t literally refer to someone who’s your cousin but someone you’re familiar with, who’s like family in the same way a cousin might be (you didn’t grow up with them, didn’t see them all the time, but you’re familiar with them).
So it’s not hard to see how this new definition came about but it is, still, sort of just plucking the word and modifying it to a very different context (the disparaging form was definitely not the predominant form and there was a degree of fondness or respect for your elders in the term which this new usage completely eradicates through patronizing that I can’t help but notice is more community-destructing than community-building). While this is a phenomenon that is far from new, it’s felt particularly manufactured in the last decade and a half or so (probably due to the ease with which things can become viral in our current Hellscape-form of Internet); a lot of the “slang” that’s hit mainstream awareness has felt almost more like buzzwords than actual slang or even natural language in the way it’s been used. That’s not directly relevant to your question but just something I’ve been thinking about.
Also, thanks for asking, rather than downvoting; it’s (obviously) not everyone but there’s a non-negligible segment of Lemmy that just seems to have an emotional tantrum every time race comes up.