Vulgar
From Hull AWE
Revision as of 11:33, 12 February 2007 by GrahamClarkson (Talk | contribs)
This derives from a ‘neutral’ Latin word – that is, one without any strong feeling or bias attached to it – meaning ‘the people’. That is how the word was originally used in English.
Now, however, in British society, it has come to be used predominantly by the educated and literate élite as a term of disapproval – the word is used pejoratively. It is applied in matters of taste, often linked with the similar adjectives ‘cheap’ and ‘nasty’. OED has as its meaning number 13: ‘Having a common and offensively mean character; coarsely commonplace; lacking in refinement or good taste; uncultured, ill-bred.’