Words and phrases that were once positive - now negative?

[Bunjee]

Plastic. Not so prized as when it was first invented.

"An eye for an eye" in context actually is a plea for merciful justice. Take only an eye for an eye, not thorough anger-fueled vengeance up to and including death.

Elite.

[Stumbler.]

Thing is though, many of those phrases mentioned are only negative in a certain context.

If you just said the word "special" or "plastic", I would have no gut reaction to it being a negative word. I can still think of many more cases where "special" means especially good, not especially bad (well, if you went to the restaurant, the daily "special" could be amazing or it could be awful; a "special" offer can either be a good deal or a scam! A "special" procedure might mean something that's a hassle if you have to go through the motions at work, or frightening if your doctor says it. Something that is "special" to me, if said at a personal level, though would tend to be very positive -- a special someone, for instance, or a special occasion). Plastic seems plain to me, but not "bad", at least on first reaction. If you said plastic in a sense of "phony" or "fake" or even if I see it associated with "chemical" or "artificial", then certainly there is a negative association that pops up.

An "eye for an eye" does seem mostly negative to me, though, now.

"Elite" also seems snobby now too but I don't have too strong of a reaction to it (it just sounds like someone is full of themselves).

[jtur88]

I encountered one in Spanish, when my doctor in Chile asked me if my pain was "exquisito"---a word that normally means the same as 'exquisite' in English. I suppose it could be used the same way in a doctor-patient conversation in English, and the prospect of "exquisite pain" is not something I would look forward to as an improvement on just ordinary pain.