"based"

glennmagusharvey

For some reason, the use of the word "based" as a positive descriptor annoys me.

Kraken

It makes no sense to me either.

Stormtroper

i dun ged it

Example sentence?

glennmagusharvey

Well, actually, here's the explanation: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/based-god

TL;DR: a rapper started using the moniker "Based God" and the adjective "based" to refer to himself positively.  Usage then spread across the internet.

Here's a joking use of it: http://heapershangout.com/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/422030#Comment_422030

I think that the main issue is actually that the similar words "base" and "debased" are both negative terms, when used as descriptors of quality.  (Though "base" does have quality-unrelated meanings, albeit as a noun modifier referring to chemistry, or the base of a structure.)

Zennistrad

From this interview:

Based means being yourself. Not being scared of what people think about you. Not being afraid to do what you wanna do. Being positive. When I was younger, based was a negative term that meant like dopehead, or basehead. People used to make fun of me. They was like, ‘You’re based.’ They’d use it as a negative. And what I did was turn that negative into a positive. I started embracing it like, ‘Yeah, I’m based.’ I made it mine. I embedded it in my head. Based is positive.