We notice change first in vocabulary. We often decry the “debasement” of the language but the linguists assure us it is all part of the Great Circle of Life (sounds of drums and chanting). However, some changes just piss me off. For example………
Due to the sex obsession of our society, we can no longer use the word ‘intimate’ to describe our relationship with someone. It has been taken over to mean “have sex with”. “Were you intimate with your boss” does not mean did you share your lunches and stay late and plan the next day’s business with enthusiasm; it means did you sleep with him, which itself is a silly expression meaning did you fuck him. Even “have intercourse” has come to mean fucking, so France can no longer have intercourse with Japan without eliciting giggles.
Another example is “epithet”, introduced to the squeamish American culture during the Watergate era as a euphemism for curse word. Epithet would have worked for the frequent ethnic slurs in Nixon’s speech, but not the casual swearing. The public was too tender to learn their Great Leader cussed, so they were told epithets were used, totally confusing them. That was the intent.