This dictionary entry hints at a hidden linguistic history. Could words be manipulated to change perceptions? What else are they hiding?
Posted by WavyCrockett1
This dictionary entry hints at a hidden linguistic history. Could words be manipulated to change perceptions? What else are they hiding?
Posted by WavyCrockett1
2 Comments
No. This is an example of *semantic drift,* the phenomenon of words evolving to mean their opposite over time. Think of the word *literally* and how in modern colloquial speech it can mean *not literally. “*I am literally dying”. This is just one of many ways language changes over time and it is not unique to english.
Words are manipulated all the time. By people. Words change meaning. Sometimes radically.