[ SECRET POST #2957 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2957 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 064 secrets from Secret Submission Post #423.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Common phrases/words that get totally misunderstood

[anonymous4]

I was kind of surprised that no-one was aware that 'whitewash' is actually a paint substitute, a cheap solution historically used by the lower classes to make their houses look cleaner/brighter as an alternative to expensive paint.

This surprised me, too! And Mediaeval castles were whitewashed.

And, metaphorically, long before it was applied to Benedict Cumberbatch, 'whitewashing' meant covering up unpalatable truths, making them seem better.

Re: Common phrases/words that get totally misunderstood

[(Anonymous)]

'whitewashing' meant covering up unpalatable truths, making them seem better.

Exactly.

You can literally whitewash something by physically painting it with whitewash.

You can metaphorically whitewash something by covering up it's flaws with a facade (e.g. you could make a movie that whitewashes a particular historical era or event by making it seem less bad than it was.)

You can also whitewash something by making it racially more white than it is/was (or ought to be). This is the most recent definition of the word and I always assumed it was meant to be a clever play on words, that is, taking the older definitions and intentionally giving "white" a racial connotation so that now instead of literally painting something with white paint or metaphorically covering something's flaws, you are covering it's non-(racially)white character and making it more white. I'd bet that's how the third definition started, actually, but then I guess a lot of people who weren't aware of the first two definitions (Maybe they never read The Wind in the Willows or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as kids and consequently never heard of whitewash, IDK) ran with it and now get confused when the older definitions (which are most assuredly not dead) pop up.