Recent comments by user

I’m proud to say that I voted for …

Comment posted on Lame Duck by minnesinger

I’m proud to say that I voted for Obama. 8 years ago I might have voted for McCain, but not this time around.

Nice ain’t so nice!
There may be more roots to the less positive connotations of this word. At least as far back as the 14th Century it was sometimes used to mean “wanton, loose-mannered, lascivious”. In 1366 Chaucer wrote “Nyce (”nice”) she was, but she mente noone harme ne slight in hir entente, But oonely lust and jolyte”. The spelling is a bit outdated, but I think the meaning comes through pretty well. The word carried opposite meanings. As early as 1573 it was used to mean effeminate, unmanly, so maybe that’s part of the word’s transition to its current status as a “kiss of death” in the dating scene. Anyhow, I love HFW’s pursuance of her chosen strand of the word’s history.