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.)

And a bundle of faggots is/ are/were small sticks for kindling when starting a fire.

Faggots are one of my favourite foods. Proper ones from the butchers not frozen ones. My teenagers always do a sharp intake of breath and tell me I can't say that when I offer them for dinner.

And if they're not misusing nonplussed, they misusing ambivalent. Interestingly, both are used to try and describe the state of being unbothered. Neither mean this however.

I'm not sure if it's new, but I notice "purposefully" being used to mean "on purpose". I would use them to mean something slightly different:
He strode purposefully across the hills.
I did it on purpose.

Soon used to mean now. But so many people dithered or lied that the meaning slipped from "now" to "in a little while". This has happened in multiple languages across the world.

Entitled...as it's used today means someone with an over-inflated sense of privilege. Whereas we used to say self-entitled in that context.
Entitled was used to describe someone's behaviour that was justifiably allowed ie "she's entitled to go in the VIP area".

Entitled - used to mean genuinely allowed to have this, feel this etc; you actually had "title" and owned or deserved the thing. Now it seems to mean non-genuine, egotistical acting as if entitled when you don't own or deserve the thing at all.

People were saying that 100 years ago.

That 'dithering' started in the 14th century, didn't it?

Queer
Gender
Woman - all need no explanation.
Gutted - now seems to be used to describe feelings of mild disappointment.

And presently used to mean soon "I'll be there presently" but people use it to mean currently "I'm presently sitting on the sofa with a fat cat".

I wish people wouldn't write 'judgy' or 'judgey' (mainly here) when they mean 'judgmental' and also 'snobby' (for 'snobbish') irritates me.

Sensibility meant sensitiveness rather than sensibleness

@Lucanus
Decimate does indeed mean 'virtually destroyed ' in modern English because that's how people use it. It's used figuratively, not in error.
Yes I know that. Hence putting it in a thread about words that have morphed from their original meaning into something else in modern commonplace parlance

There are a couple of songs from the late 1950s that have innocent-style (i.e. not humpty-pumpty-related) sentiments:

Russ Hamilton: "On the clouds up above, we will make love";

Floyd Robinson: "What would the teacher say if they knew we were out all day makin' love?" Probably call social services!

Yes, I grew up on Enid Blyton, so I just knew the word as 'strange, unexpected'. Some of her phrasing hasn't aged well, especially things like "I came over a little queer"

Radios also used to be called 'transistors' or 'transistor radios', which was commonly abbreviated to a word that would probably be considered hate speech today.

I really don't get the horror with 'faggots', though, as this is indeed a perfectly everyday word for a popular meat product, especially in the West Midlands, and it's not related to gay people in any way; it's not like somebody is going to be asking if you would like to eat a homosexual for your meal, is it?

I wonder if that's related to the German verb 'wollen', which seems to have actually gone in the opposite direction from English.

That's one of the first 'false friends' that they drum into you when you learn German: "Ich will" means "I want" and not "I will".

@BlazingWorld thank you, I've had this discussment (as DD used to say) on here before.
Decimated:
"It is what it used to mean, which is the point of the thread?"
In New Doctor Who, the Master ordered the population to be decimated and one in ten was killed. RTD knows

Some Biblical ones:

Good used to mean holy, not necessarily a lovely or pleasant thing - hence Good Friday meant Holy Friday.

Naughty used to be a very serious word, meaning sinful, rather than just a bit noisy or cheeky. We don't tend to use the word nowadays when referring to adults (other than jocularly), but that wasn't always the case.

Bowels used to also mean compassion and mercy and innermost kind feelings, as well as just your internal poo bag.

Conversation meant behaviour, rather than just talking.

Intercourse is another one like ejaculate, where it used to have two accepted understandings, but now people only ever think of the sexual meaning.

It would have been completely routine at one point to mention that you had intercourse with somebody - meaning just a discussion - but now you'd probably be sacked for gross misconduct or end up on a register if you admitted that in some contexts.

Radios also used to be called 'transistors' or 'transistor radios', which was commonly abbreviated to a word that would probably be considered hate speech today.

My MIL (83) still calls the radio 'the wireless'.

My favorite is "egregious"...

My mum had a creepy old admirer years ago (1970s) who asked her one day "what's a four letter word ending in K that means intercourse?" The answer was "talk"!

How has ‘egregious’ changed meaning? I’m not saying it hasn’t, just that I’ve never seen it used for anything other awful, bad etc.

@WhileMyDishwasherGentlyWeeps Sorry, I meant to post a link and got sidetracked! It used to mean really good. That's why I like it-it's just like sick and bad....