General

word bleg

I’m looking for examples of words that are only ever used in their positive sense. I’m thinking of terms like “community”, “natural” and — in politics, “change.” Despite the fact that there are lots of downsides to communities, that the natural can kill you, and that lots of changes are for the worse, their rhetorical use is almost always as terms of approbation.

Can you think of other examples? Just the words is fine, though I’m happy to see your thoughts on why some words get used in this way and not others; what cultural or political assumptions are at work.

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