From:  Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk>
Date:  06 Oct 2024 02:39:19 Hong Kong Time
Newsgroup:  news.alt119.net/sci.lang
Subject:  

Re: Deadly Nightshade

NNTP-Posting-Host:  null

Ed Cryer wrote:

> Is there a technical term for this way that words mutate in meaning?
> Do people know other examples?
> 
> Ed

You can take all the words for psychological problems or lack of
intelligence (with a vague definition).

In Danish the expression "pendulum words" are used about words who get
the opposite meaning. I don't know English examples, but a Danish
expression is "godt 100" - literally "good 100" - which means a little
more than 100. Within the last 20 years it became clear that some Danes
thought that it meant a little less than 100. So today one has to be
careful when using that expression.

-- 
Bertel
Kolt, Denmark