Being a fan of a dubstep music, I often see comments like this:
"Looooove this tune! The bass drop is so sick!..."
To my understanding, sick has negative connotation. Merriam-Webster defines this word as "affected with a disease or disorder", either physically or mentally.
However, the phrase above looks rather positive (even if followed with something like "...my ears were bleeding").
What's the point?
Answer
Very good question. Generally speaking, this is an example of what we call slang. I'm sure your native language has it, too, but just to make sure we're on the same page:
Slang is a subset (superset? intersection?) of the English language used in informal settings. It does not require proper grammar, it allows skipping or adding words unconventionally, and, perhaps most importantly, it allows words to take on new definitions completely unrelated to their "real" definitions. These definitions simply evolve over time in the vernacular and really have no proper origins.
Some other examples of English slang words, all meaning roughly "very good", "impressive", etc. (I'm sure you're familiar with most):
- wicked
- awesome
- boss
- crazy
- ridiculous
- nasty
- sick-nasty (a personal favorite)
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