• Khrux@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      12·
      1 year ago

      I think this is joke that the invention of a new word is an example of the criticisms of the Unabomber’s manifesto which was critical of technology and the socio-political ramifications it brings? The word rizz being a word that was quickly made commonplace by the internet being the example.

      Rizz may be my favourite new word in a while, the first time I read it I knew it was short of charisma, and the synonyms of charisma like charm don’t quite mean the same thing, so having a short fun way to say it is good. I’m probably a bit biased because I think I may have accidentally had a convergent evolution moment where I was also using rizz as short of charisma because I play D&D where two of your stats are Wisdom (shortened to wis) and Charisma (shortened to cha), but I didn’t like saying “ka” so I started saying rizz because it rhymes with wis.

      • Square Singer@feddit.de
        1·
        1 year ago

        Sure, the etymology is completely different (Ritz was derived from the name of a hotel), but the meaning, spelling and pronounciation are almost the same.

        But on the other hand, the etymology of a youth word is often much more fuzzy than one might expect.

        Someone and their friend group start using a term, that then mostly spreads orally, it then someone downstream starts to write the term (using a spelling that might or might not reflect the original etymology. And then, when the word becomes really popular (and might go through different spellings and pronounciations) some linguist takes an educated guess to find an etymology.

        Since we don’t know the person who invented “rizz”, it might also well be, that that person listened to the cover of “Putting on the Ritz” by Taco and started using that term.