What words have changed common meaning?

[theelectricnorth]

I am currently watching White Christmas, and it has got me thinking about words that have changed what people would first think of when they hear it, compared to what they would have thought 50+ years ago (or any time really).

For example, according to merriam-webster dictionary, 'gay' means:

1. Of, relating to, or characterised by sexual or romantic attraction to people of one's same sex
2. Happily excited

Now, most people I know, these days, will automatically relate 'gay' to definition number 1, however this wasn't the case x many years ago. So, I was wondering, what other words do you know that have changed 'main' definition over time?

(The part of the film that got my brain going in case anyone was wondering... Judy and Phil were talking about engagement:
Judy: Of course, it's got to be a man.
Phil: That's an absolute must.
Judy: No, no, no. I mean a mature man. You know, one with talent and experience. One that's witty, gay, charming, attractive.)

Oh yes goat.
I teach year 5 and the amount of times I read "goated" as a synonym for excellence you wouldn't believe.
"This x is goated"

Pathetic.

The original meaning came from ‘pathos’ so something like ‘inspiring sympathy’. But now it means something more akin to ‘not good enough’.

There was a story a while ago about someone who had read a sentence in an old newspaper about a suicide along the lines of ‘her pathetic form was discovered in the afternoon…’.

And the modern reader contacted the current newspaper to get them to apologise. Which they did! Utterly ridiculous.

But it doesn’t mean ‘rich’, unless the meaning has changed and if it has, it is a contender for this thread?
It is not a positive word that aligns with Gregg’s face and noises when he uses it.

’The exception that proves the rule’ uses prove in its sense of ‘shows the existence of the rule’. It’s not ‘prove’ in the sense of test.

One ‘change’ that seems to be happening but shouldn’t be, because it really damages meaning and limits expression, is ‘disinterested‘ for ‘uninterested‘.

Where on earth do you get that idea from? The word is used in religious contexts but its meaning is more general.

www.etymonline.com/word/amazing

The drift of usage to what was, I assume, a perfectly unremarkable opticians appointment is regrettable though.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean the 'positive thinking' type of thing? The goal is still to make something manifest I suppose.

When feeling slightly unwell my grandmother was always feeling a little queer. I think she was too old to change.

Queer. Used to mean strange, or a pejorative for a homosexual man.

Now used to mean deliberately going against social norms. (Though, then the social norms change to take in the new “queer” ones, so what do they do then, when they’re just old and mainstream?)

My dad (Northern Irish) often referred to people as “the quair fella” (queer fella) - not meaning they were gay, just meaning “that bloke whose name I’ve forgotten”.

Fulsome.

A fulsome apology was once overblown, and a little false.

Now it’s used to signify a complete apology.

Celebrity - used to mean someone who was on tv or was famous. Now the meaning is more loaded, and it’s symbolises a lifestyle rather someone who was an actor, for example.

Re unctious, I remember a choir master once explaining to us a phrase from a hymn “the holy unction from above” which refers to the oils with which biblical kings were anointed (and in fact, our royals are anointed with oils at their coronations).

So unction referred to oil, but, a good and holy oil.

I know it is also used to describe someone who is a bit slick; a bit oily.

But using it to describe deliciously smooth and oily food wouldn’t be wrong.

Made love to - in older books it just means courted
Pristine - we were told not to use this to mean “clean” at journalism school because it really means untouched, uncorrupted - so you could have a pristine meadow but not a pristine bedroom. But now both meanings are acceptable.
Awful - used to mean something that causes awe, like a mountain or the power of God
Ejaculated - I mean, it still does mean to blurt out, but you probably wouldn’t use it that way nowadays as Conan Doyle does “Good heavens, Holmes!” I ejaculated. (not an exact quote). Holmes also talks about Mrs Hudson being “knocked up” - someone knocked on her door to wake her up.

Glamour/ glamourous - now it means attractive in a glossy sort of way but has lost some of its magical meaning - “glamour” was like a spell, a false front you could cast to deceive other people’s perceptions, and could be put on and off at will. Think Morgan le Fey and Arthurian legends. Maybe it retains some of that when someone takes their false eyelashes off at night!

That's not changed its meaning.

It's just used by people who don't know what it means.

It is what it used to mean, which is the point of the thread?
Edited: I pasted a link but it was unwieldy

It has! The dictionary definition has (literally) been changed to also include its figurative use.

Pristine means untouched/ pre-historic / virgin, as in forest that's never been logged, or unspoiled ecosystem. People seem to think it means nice and clean.

"Nonplussed" is a word that can't be used any more since expensively educated Americans people started using it to mean its opposite.

Same with "disinterested", because so many people confuse it with "uninterested". It means impartial.

And "gender", of course. It just means category or type, but so many people think it's the educated way to say sex, which leads to no end of confusion.

Racism.

It used to actually mean hate and discrimination towards another race. Now it is apparently only possible towards black or brown people. Also you can be it even when married to POC and have mixed race children, you may even be it if you’re mixed race yourself. Also if you wear ethnic hairstyle/clothing, or start a business supplying or creating food/products that have been deemed to belong to a specific ethnic group. Also don’t forget that even asking someone questions about themselves in order to get to know them may be deemed racist and probably best avoided all together as I found out to my cost when I started talking to a dog fellow walker in the park who had a Nottingham accent - I am originally from there and we were many miles from that city. Pleasantly surprised to come across the familiar accent, I asked her and saw a look of horror and disgust cross her face as she withdraw completely from me before I could even finish my sentence by a qualifier that I recognised her accent. I hastily explained and told her my area to “prove” my credentials but still was called a muttered “racist“ as she walked away. Oh well 🤷🏼‍♀️

Want used to be used to mean requirement or need rather than something you'd like. As in "God our maker doth provide, for our wants to be supplied" and "waste not want not". Locally people still say it when offering advice "you want to (or don't want to)...."

But it doesn’t mean ‘rich’, unless the meaning has changed and if it has, it is a contender for this thread?

But 'rich' in the context of food is just a nicer way of saying full of fats, so it kind of does mean that.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Tu7ybU54g
At least as long ago as 1938 'gay' had the connotation of homosexuality...

A faggot is also a very delicious meatball type thing.

And a faggot is also a bundle of wood.

"Travesty" means a coarse, ugly parody of something else , but people think it means "something outrageous" because they only know it from the phrase "a travesty of justice".
Same with "livid". It refers to a blueish-grey colour (I think it's a cognate of liver) but people only know it from the phrase "livid with rage" so they use it to mean "really cross".