this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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It's crazy to me that you can't admit it's religious...
Edit: and Wiktionary is a terrible source.
I understand the word bless and blessed is religious, but in the way everyone I know uses it or how I use it we don’t use it in a religious way. That definition is literally how we use it and yet you are saying that im not using it how I say I am. Idk why you can’t just admit maybe words can have different meanings in different phrases when that is just how English works.
You do know what slang means right?
If you don’t, here you go
First, I'm saying you don't understand it's connotation if you don't believe it isn religious. You don't get to define what a word means, regardless of how you use it. I don't get to define it either.
Bless up, literally, means to have a blessed day, originates from a religious connotation and most people who use it intend for it to be religious.
You and your friends using it in a different context because you didn't understand it and see other people using it doesn't change it's meaning.
Words absolutely can have different meanings and contexts... But you don't get to choose them individually.
An extreme example of this is racist terms and kids who grow up in racist households... Just because someone has grown up hearing a word used, doesn't mean that they understand the word or it's context and it literally doesn't matter one whit what they think it means when they use it.
Bless up is religious whether you want it to be or not. You think I don't understand your context... But again, you are just wrong.
People don't say "God Bless You" when other people sneeze because they think that persons soul is trying to escape their body, but it would be foolish to think that the phrase isn't religious.
Okay I hear you I see what you mean. I should say though it isn’t just my friend group, it really is my generation and the one prior so it’s more of a widespread. I do see what you’re saying. I had never heard the term ‘bless up’ used in a religious before until now although I knew the term bless or blessed was religious. But the thing is, couldn’t you make this argument against all of slang that uses a word in a different way than it’s original purpose? Putting it this way just basically makes slang completely irrelevant and not usable in any situation if you are using a word that is not from its original definition so that’s where I find pointing this specific term out causes issues due to the multitude of other slang you can attack from this angle. I feel like it’s just knit picking at that point
Yes. Terms do change overtime as entire groups use them, but the change is usually massive or multi-generational.
Slang is just that, slang. The terms still retain their standard meaning and when interpreted still carry the standard connotation.
For example, in the late 90s "Bad" was a "good" thing, but the connotation of the thing that was good was still a "bad" connotation. A "baddie" being used to talk about a person connotes someone you "don't take home to your parents" even though you might be interested in them.
A more modern example is "drip" which historical slang meant a lame/sad/stupid person, like water dripping on you, but the term has changed as the entire zoomer generation started using it to mean clothing... But even that definition comes from its use of "dripping money" which originates from its base usage of to dribble slowly.
Bless/Blessed maybe changing, but the cultural pull on it to relate to a supernaturally endowed luck or divine favor is huge.
Bless up, as a greeting, is just another religious style greeting such as "peace be upon you". They mean basically the same thing. "Hi/good luck/ be blessed/goodbye/etc"... But they are fundamentally religious.
Bless up, as a reaction to a personal achievement, is a shortened mechanism by which religious individuals deny selfishness and/or pride. "Giving thanks to God" means that the individuals achievement shouldn't be held against them in a cultural situation where pride is a deadly sin. It's basically false modesty to avoid being labeled prideful or sinful by their religious congregation, which is 100% what those groups did/do to athletes they wanted to throw under the bus.
That pointing at the sky thing is virtue signaling to the religious right. "I didn't make that touchdown, God did."
Frankly, the fact that you don't know this is amazing... It means you aren't being subjected to the same horrendous shit we were in my generation.