Language is a living organism.
When I learned English (starting in fifth grade) my
teachers, all of them, would have dinged me for referring to a single
individual as “they” or “them.”
But it’s more than the new pronouns. I learned that generation Zers use the word interesting as
a negative, when you don’t want to say someone or something is peculiar in a
negative way. To me, interesting is one of the highest compliments.
I learned that ending a text* with a period may be
grammatically correct, but Zers
find it negative and admonishing.
*Speaking of texts, lol and lmao
I learned that referring to another as being on the same
wavelength is a radio reference that makes me a hundred years old.
I learned that rad, short for radical, is high
praise. Not being empathetic to radicalism, this feels wrong. Sue me.
(Speaking of, “sue me” is also very baby-boomerish.)
Yikes is an expletive/interjection only grandmas use.
Bad used to mean bad. Then it became good, as in very
good. It’s back to being bad again, depending on the community.
Ms., once a neutral replacement to Miss/Mrs., is
moving towards Mx. and replaces Mr. also.
Language is a living thing, and that’s cool.
At least cool, which replaced warmly wonderful, has
stuck around since the 1950s.
I knew from the tone of voice when a young man said "inneresting" to the story I was telling that he had nothing to add, that he was bored. Ouch. Language is very cool and I love learning the history of words. We had the OED in our Membrane Group tea-room.
ReplyDeleteMy mother, who would've been 105, also used "interesting" as a super-polite way of saying that she didn't like something. I guess she thought young! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad "cool" is still "cool". Does "on the same page" still mean what "on the same wave length" use to mean? It's hard to keep up. (Another good reason to write historical fiction. :-)
ReplyDeleteA pastor friend didn't think newborn babies were attractive, even his own, so he used the phrase: "What an interesting baby." ha ha
ReplyDeleteI will use periods in my texts until you pry the punctuation mark from my dying hands! But I AM old.
So much to learn! I'm sure I'll always be behind the times with these language nuances and changes. I know I show my age countless times in everything I write. But hopefully it doesn't matter as much in creating puzzles and in emails to friends and family.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post. Yes, the meaning of words changes with the times and we don't always keep up with them. Imagine being a foreign language speaker and wondering why someone is using "bad" in a good way or vice versa. It's confusing, but the most adept language learners pick up idiomatic expressions and slang to good (bad?) effect. I didn't know about the latest use of Mx.but was glad when I started using Ms. so many years ago now. I doubt I'll pick up Mx.
ReplyDeleteNo Mx. K for you, MirkaK ;)
ReplyDelete