Listen to this post on Youtube: https://youtu.be/TcppKRVVQ1k
I’m not here to defend listening to audiobooks as an alternative to eyeball reading. Studies have already shown that they are the same with regards to comprehension. No, I’m here to defend language evolution.
Do you remember about 10 years ago when an additional definition for the word “literally” to mean “figuratively” was added to a few dictionaries, and people lost their minds, and then it turned out that authors, as far back as Charles Dickens, had been using “literally” to mean “figuratively” for hundreds of years? It’s kind of like that. Here are a few words that we commonly use today that have evolved to mean something a bit different than they used to:
Write: As in “When I write a book, I don’t use a pen. I do all of the work on my computer”.
Jump: I’d rather not walk. I’ll just jump on the train.
Play (as in a song): Hey Siri, play “Whip It” by Devo.
As technology has changed, language has had to evolve, and it’s easier to change the meaning of a word than to come up with a whole new word and expect people to use it.
In fact, many of the words we say today used to have completely different meanings altogether. Here are a few:
“Flirt” referred to a sudden movement. “Villain” used to mean “commoner”.
“Decimate” was used to describe eliminating 10 percent (usually by killing).
“Explode” comes from a Latin word meaning “to drive off with a loud noise, like clapping or booing”. “Dissappoint” meant “to remove someone from office”, and “very” wasn’t always used merely for emphasis. It meant truly, or literally. (The old “literally”).
Those who judge others for using old words in a new way are just living in the past. And I mean that figuratively.
Thanks for reading!
Rebecca H. Lee
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