Have any words' definitions been changed, ever? in history? i really want at least one legitimate example?
Words change all the time. My favorite story about that: when the King first saw Sir Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral in London, he said it was %26quot;awful, pompous and artificial.%26quot; This was a complement. Where he said %26quot;awful%26quot;, we would say %26quot;awesome%26quot; or %26quot;awe-inspiring%26quot;. Where he said %26quot;pompous%26quot;, we would say %26quot;grand%26quot; or %26quot;huge%26quot;. Where he said %26quot;artificial%26quot;, we would say %26quot;well-constructed%26quot;.
There are other examples. Many of the words used in the King James translation of the Bible have changed meanings since it was done, leading to some interesting misinterpretations nowadays.
Have any words' definitions been changed, ever? in history? i really want at least one legitimate example?
Definitions change all the time. %26quot;Gay%26quot; used to mean %26quot;happy%26quot; just as one example.
But I really think we should focus our efforts on the achievable - civil unions with expanded domestic partner benefits to be exacty equal to heterosexual married couples - and leave the %26quot;marriage%26quot; label to the church.
Best I can come up with is that the World Health Org used to definie homosexuality as a mental illness.
They changed their minds on that one and redefined it.
Here's one: %26quot;Gay%26quot;. Once meaning something as simple as %26quot;happy%26quot;, but now it seems to have exploded to mean everything from %26quot;homosexual%26quot; to %26quot;gross/ stupid%26quot;. It's sad, really, that my English class can't read a good piece of literature without giggling.
Another interesting one, %26quot;vampire%26quot;. The webster definition is %26quot; the reanimated body of a dead person believed to come from the grave at night and suck the blood of persons asleep%26quot;, but that has changed drastically too, particularly with the FLOOD of vampire teen books now out.
And you're right, it is a shame. That definition was likely created years ago, when gay marriage was completely unheard of. Then again, if it was unheard of, then I'm surprised they bothered with %26quot;of the opposite sex%26quot; in the definition...all in all, go figure.
I once had a dictionary from the 40's that defined %26quot;computer%26quot; as one who computes.
At one time a typewriter was the person who operated the machine
Words evolve all the time. I can remember when %26quot;bad%26quot; meant it wasn't good, and your old lady was your mother, not your girlfriend.
So those last two examples are slang, but that's how language changes. People use words to mean certain things, and eventually it becomes the norm.
