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by PaulHoule 1201 days ago
And what’s a Stan? Why does everybody sound like an Incel all of a sudden? Why does the most prescient part of Orwell’s 1984 be the part about about the impoverishment of language for political ends.
5 comments

You're about 20 years too late regarding Stans. Also, where and how do they sound like incels?
Incels might be the most prominent example of a group with a large hermetic vocabulary that floats independently of the rules that govern neologisms.

For instance you could almost figure out what ‘anti-racism’ is based on the composition rules of language. (But you might think “anti-“ means “opposed to” whereas “anti-“ as in anti-matter is more like it according to Coates.)

Someone who went to the movies might dimly understand the “pills” (or do some people just take a lot of drugs?). On the other hand you could never figure out “chad”, and “stacey” without explanation.

> On the other hand you could never figure out “chad”, and “stacey” without explanation.

Or, you know, context.

I don’t know what a Stan is but could easily understand what they were referring to by the way they used the word.

Incels? What’s that? Pots that call the kettles black?

You are trying to lock down language with your own restrictive unstated rules, while also complaining about 1984 locking down language with rules?!

Shaka, when the walls fell.

stan is a reference to the eminem song of the same name, referring either to just being a big fan, or being unhealthily obsessed with something, depending on context.
"Stan" has been fairly mainstream slang for about twenty years [1]. Being out of touch with popular culture is not a sign of Orwellian thought control.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_(song)

Looks like Stan is the archetype for an obsessive fan.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Stan

I had to look it up; I was under the mistaken impression that Stan was the male equivalent of Karen, but I guess there are some similarities between them.

Enriching language by creating new words for new ideas is the opposite of 1984.