Sorry if this is off topic, I have a language-related question:

Over the last year I’ve seen people on the internet using “unserious” as an adjective to criticize people. Is it just an expression that became common, a frequent literal translation from another native language…?

Not at all judging, I am not a native speaker and I never saw the word used that way before, but this is the kind of question that’s pretty much impossible to get an answer for without a direct question.

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guerrilla 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

It's an old word from the 1650s, just becoming more popular now for zeitgeist reasons. https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=unserious

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idle_zealot 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It's not a literal translation from another language. It's just a word that's taken off in popularity, presumably in response to the rising trend of anti-intellectualism.

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jameshart 4 days ago | parent [-]

The word ‘serious’ has several meanings, depending on what it’s used to describe. As a result it has a bunch of opposites: frivolous, funny, non-life-threatening…

When we are grading a person’s argument or their approach to a topic for seriousness, none of those seem to capture the sort of opposite we need. And that’s where ‘unserious’ comes up. How seriously should we take this? Is it serious or unserious?

I’m not sure why there would be a relatively recent surge in its use. Etymonline cites ‘unserious’ as having 17th century origins. Ngram shows increasing usage in the modern era but starting from the 1950s onwards.

If anything it probably reflects an increased use of ‘serious’ in the context of discussing intellectual opinions, as opposed to ‘consequences’ or ‘demeanor’ or ‘injury’ – which if anything is a reflection of increased public engagement with intellectual pursuits.

	▲	kace91 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		To clarify, I mostly see it in political comments, as in “trump is deeply unserious as a president” (substitute trump for whoever the poster dislikes). That’s what weirded me, without context it sounds too literary for random internet comments, but my gut feeling in a second language isn’t really worth much.