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by duskwuff 1491 days ago
> just lovely names like "degenerate."

The use of this term as an insult has some especially nasty history behind it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art

2 comments

Degenerate and base art thou. – Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 5, Scene 4
What are you trying to say here?
I thought for a moment maybe the noun as an insult started with the Nazis, but no, the word goes back a long way.

p.s. I notice the vast majority of your HN comments are similarly very short and low-effort, with a lot of not-very-nice jabs at people on here. Doesn't make for pleasant reading.

I asked because it's a common tactic for people who would use "degenerate" deliberately with its modern, Nazi-associated connotation but simultaneously (and dishonestly) try and hide behind the fact that it is in fact a much older word, thus protecting their dogwhistle. I was trying to suss out if that's what you were doing.

> Doesn't make for pleasant reading.

I can live with that.

Brevity is the soul of wit?

I believe GP is saying that crypto shills have called them a degenerate. I don't think they're using that word themselves.
Yes, I was called a "degenerate." I wasn't calling anyone else that. I was just expressing my displeasure with cryptocurrency and its, shall we say, advocates.