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June
19, 2002:
How Meanings of Words Have Evolved
Interview
with Jeffrey Kacirk, author of Altered
English
Mike
Carruthers:
In the English language, there are a lot of words that used to
mean something else.
Jeffrey
Kacirk:
Words
such as "smirk" in Old English used to mean "smile
pleasantly." And "dainty" meant "large,
buxom, or thriving."
Jeffrey
Kacirk, author of the book Altered
English, says there are some words that used to have two
different meanings, but now have only one.
For
example, "trombone" used to refer not only to the
instrument, but to the person himself that played the trombone.
"Rhetoric" was a person that used rhetoric, not just
his way of speaking. Or "cosmetic" was somebody who
applied cosmetics.
If you call
someone "sanctimonious," that's not a compliment today.
But
at one time, "sanctimonious" and also the word "pontificate"
were perfectly respectable terms, meaning "holy,"
and "pontificate" meaning "to preach, but not
talk down to."
"Bread-winner"
now refers to a person, but the term "bread-winner"
used to be the tools of a person's trade. So a carpenter's hammer
would be his bread-winner. And the term "aunt" didn't
always mean "the sister of your mother or father."
No, it
had a little more sinister connotation. An aunt was sometimes
used as kind of a sly way of talking about a woman of ill repute.
A lot of our words for relatives have changed. "Cousin,"
for example, became a lot more specific; now it's a particular
type of relative, whereas it used to mean pretty much any relative:
grandchild, nephew, niece, anything like that. Even sometimes
a friend.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net,
I'm Mike Carruthers, and that's "Something You Should Know".
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