Eight Words Which Have Completely Changed Their Meaning Over Time

educational piece,thanks

Very nice! I never know Nice meant the total opposite!

Check out my article too http://www.socyberty.com/History/Geography-Terms.283947

After the last article, had to go see what else you had up here - another little gem, thanks! ~ d

That was very educational. Another would be: a fag was slang for a cigarette.

This taught me something new today, thanks. The word "Gay" originally meant "Happy", but today it means something entirely different.

God Bless,

Nelson Doyle

Here's an acronym your probably didn't know about...

"fornicate under command of the king"

(Google it...) :-o

-thestickman

Interesting. Thanks for this.

wow!amazing

Interesting...thanks for sharing.

What an interesting, unique article - great work!

Blessings.

Sincerely,

-Liane Schmidt.

Nelson Doyle: "Gay" is a pretty fun word. It hasn't meant happy in living memory - prior to being established to mean homosexual, it meant simply promiscuous or sexually indiscreet, in the 20's, flappers were called gay, and a number of womanizing or flirtatious characters in film and literature played on the meaning (Gay Falcon, Jane Gay). For most of the 17 and 1800's it specifically referred to prostitutes, "the gay lifetstyle" referred to prostitutes and their customers. Before that, in the 1600's, it meant immoral or hedonistic, which extended to all of its later meanings, but also included just about every sinful pleasure.

Basically, anybody who pretends it used to mean "happy" is either being pedantic or is roughly 400 years old.

thestickman: You should Google it - it's not true.

In regards to "manufacture", I think your definition is a little too narrow - I've never heard *anyone* claim that "manufacture" only allows for the manufactured item to have been made by machine. "Brave" never meant a coward; the ancient Latin pravus meant "depraved", and from there it turned from "depraved" to "cutthroat" to "savage" to "bold" to "valiant". What's your source on "counterfeit" necessarily meaning a "perfect copy" - that doesn't even follow the etymology.

In fact, a lot of your definitions are skewed and slanted in ways that I can't even begin to comprehend - your definition for "artificial" is practically bogus, and the "other slant" isn't explained beyond a beginning wink. Furthermore, most of your bits about how these words have changed involve going back to the Ancient Latin roots - how disingenuous of you to talk about some word "changing" when your "original definition" is an entirely different word in a language that hasn't been spoken in over a thousand years.

I'd recommend that anyone who wants to learn about the history of words from an actual authority, not someone who fails to even give references for his claims, check out the Online Etymology Dictionary at http://www.etymonline.com.

thestickman: You mean the completely false backronym for "the f-word"? No, no, really, you should have "Googled it" yourself.

Hey, Wilcox.

I think you need to go and do some research yourself. That etymonline website is full of errors too! Unlike you though, I'm not going to be a self-appointed lecturer. Also, the rather arrogant way in which you present your 'corrections' does you a great disservice - especially when you're so wrong yourself! I'm sure the writer of this piece wasn't planning to enter it as his final doctorate dissertation, so why have to include references? Anyone who wants serious discussion knows where to go. At best you come across as pompous. At worst, well...

Jeez wilcox! Issues or what???

"I've already had to stop looking through writing blogs..."

Please extend this courtesy to this site.

Don't bother writing me a long (yes, your are pompous) response.

Fifi.