The gentle snowflake has made its way on to the list of words that have changed meaning.  The thought of a snowflakes  brings thoughts of joy, wonder, peace, soft, beautiful, enchanting and many other wonderful adjectives.  Unfortunately, the changed meaning is negative.  In years past, the slang term “flake” was the abbreviation for snowflake  and is sometimes used in place of snowflake today.  Currently, the preference is to use the entire word, snowflake which adds more drama and imagery.

Snowflake has an added meaning defined by adjectives that include;  shallow, marginal, thin-skinned, unattractive, lazy, entitled and many other things.  Faith Salie of the CBS Sunday Morning television program does an excellent job of outlining how the word snowflake has an additional meaning.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/whos-the-snowflake-faith-salie-a-chilly-riposte-to-political-insults/#

As the Universe would have it, climate change has expanded our awareness in a new and different way.