Words that have stopped being used or changed meaning

[charitybimbo]

A boner of a boner.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm just saying that your threads tend to get the creative juices flowing... titillate the muse... feed the plotbunnies

I was just teasing, hun .

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

Somebody already pointed it out, but the word "hack" comes to mind because suddenly it's omnipresent. I'm not a computer aficionado but I've been familiar with its use in the sense of "computer hacking" for decades. But now it seems to be the go-to phrase in all types of media for "handy solution" or something like that.

The bad thing about social media is that it makes the adoption of new or changed terms like this almost instantaneous, making it hard to keep up if one is disinclined to do so. The good thing about it is I can look up the definition in a few seconds if I'm curious.

 

[onehitwanda]

Somebody already pointed it out, but the word "hack" comes to mind because suddenly it's omnipresent. I'm not a computer aficionado but I've been familiar with its use in the sense of "computer hacking" for decades. But now it seems to be the go-to phrase in all types of media for "handy solution" or something like that.

The funny thing is that is more of a return to its roots. Hacking apparently originally referred to the act of modifying model railway engines to add new functionality - coincidentally at the MIT Tech model railway club:

https://theworld.org/stories/2017-01-04/what-hack

from there I guess it bled into programming, and from there into criminal enterprise, and from there it's circled back to its original engineering term.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The funny thing is that is more of a return to its roots. Hacking apparently originally referred to the act of modifying model railway engines to add new functionality - coincidentally at the MIT Tech model railway club:

https://theworld.org/stories/2017-01-04/what-hack

from there I guess it bled into programming, and from there into criminal enterprise, and from there it's circled back to its original engineering term.

The things you learn on Lit!

Em

 

[MrPixel]

https://theworld.org/stories/2017-01-04/what-hack

I love "entropy booster". My desk is all about entropy.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

And the king of them all…

FRANKENSTEIN!

Gets used as the monster/creature, when Frankenstein was the Scientist. You don’t need to be Doctor Spock from Star Trek to work that out! (You see what I did there? ).

 

[MrPixel]

... You don’t need to be Doctor Spock from Star Trek to work that out! (You see what I did there? ).

Unfortunately the "like" emoticons don't have as an option.

 

[charitybimbo]

And the king of them all…

FRANKENSTEIN!

Gets used as the monster/creature, when Frankenstein was the Scientist. You don’t need to be Doctor Spock from Star Trek to work that out! (You see what I did there? ).

I also use Frankenstein as a verb, the act of putting together a whole from parts.

 

[onehitwanda]

The things you learn on Lit!

Em

I love teaching you things.

https://media.tenor.com/3dJ9UJR9lEUAAAAC/addamsfamilyvalues-addamsfamily.gif

 

[SimonDoom]

And the king of them all…

FRANKENSTEIN!

Gets used as the monster/creature, when Frankenstein was the Scientist. You don’t need to be Doctor Spock from Star Trek to work that out! (You see what I did there? ).

You're giving birth to a new usage.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I also use Frankenstein as a verb, the act of putting together a whole from parts.

That…would be an acceptable variation and a good use of an existing word.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

It had a dual meaning of trying to break into a system you don't have access to, and to make the computer do something through clever manipulation.

The original hacks were the latter definition - getting a computer to do something outside the original specification. Over time one subcategory of hacks became ways to break into or otherwise misuse a computer. This became popularized. At one point (IIRC, in the 80’s), there was an attempt to rebrand malicious activity as cracking instead of hacking. It didn’t work.

 

[onehitwanda]

That…would be an acceptable variation and a good use of an existing word.

I call Frankfurters Frankenfurters. It gets me odd looks.

 

[onehitwanda]

The original hacks were the latter definition - getting a computer to do something outside the original specification. Over time one subcategory of hacks became ways to break into or otherwise misuse a computer. This became popularized. At one point (IIRC, in the 80’s), there was an attempt to rebrand malicious activity as cracking instead of hacking. It didn’t work.

Cracking is whitehat isn't it?

 

[Bramblethorn]

That’s really odd. I don’t use spaz, but I say lame all the time. Never made the connection, how dumb am I?

It feels totally disconnected from a disability.

Em

Speaking of insults derived from disability, "dumb" was a term for mute. Hence "dumb animals" etc.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Cracking is whitehat isn't it?

Both white- and black-hat types hack & crack. It’s all in how the result is used. White hats try to improve security, black hats to get around, break, or otherwise make security useless.

Cracking is also Synonymous with decrypting, getting meaningful information out of seeming gibberish, typically while they’re not supposed to. While it is publicly a black-hat trait, white hats crack too to ensure encryption works as expected. Good encryption is staggeringly hard to do - "it’s easy to make encryption that you can’t break" - so there are lots and lots of very bright people cracking all sorts of encryptions every day.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Boner used to be slang for a mistake.

Batman #66, 1951:
http://www.darkknightnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/boner-7.jpg

 

[EmilyMiller]

Speaking of insults derived from disability, "dumb" was a term for mute. Hence "dumb animals" etc.

This way lies madness. Language changes.

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/captain-america-wank-1.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=1140&h=&dpr=1.5

 

[Bramblethorn]

This way lies madness. Language changes.

Em

It does, but that's an "is" statement which doesn't offer us guidance on the specifics of how it ought to change.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It does, but that's an "is" statement which doesn't offer us guidance on the specifics of how it ought to change.

My comment is around the fact that it has already changed.

Em

 

[UsuallyPresent]

It does, but that's an "is" statement which doesn't offer us guidance on the specifics of how it ought to change.

Is it reasonable to expect that such a thing is possible to accomplish? Unless you're going for massive surveillance *cough*China*cough* I'm not sure it is, and even so that only works for areas you can surveil to a high degree.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The first 'life hacks' might be clever, but yeah, now it includes listicles of ideas only worthy of Viz Top Twips. Avoid the embarrassment of shouting out the wrong name in bed by having flings only with girls who have the same name as your wife.

Passed away I've heard for years - not just from Americans - and sometimes 'passing on' to mean the actual dying bit, but the new one on me is using just 'passed' by itself, which confused me no end when a cousin told me their sibling had passed. Passed their driving test (UK newsworthy announcement, not for an American nearly 50)? Got another degree? Oh, killed themselves. Great.

I understand the need for euphemism especially when it's someone very close to you, but clarity really matters, folks!

In English usage it's only a graveyard if it's around a church, otherwise it's a cemetery. I've not heard memorial park to mean either, only a park with a memorial in it. Yet.

Graveyards used to associated with churches, which is probably how most people used to be buried. Some wealthy families had their own family plots. Cemetery is still used a lot in the United States, although memorial park is creeping in.

A classic study of the American funeral industry. (Non't call them undertakers!)

https://www.amazon.com/American-Way...he+american+way+of+death,stripbooks,82&sr=1-1

"Clarity" is not necessarily a priority for most people.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Is it reasonable to expect that such a thing is possible to accomplish? Unless you're going for massive surveillance *cough*China*cough* I'm not sure it is, and even so that only works for areas you can surveil to a high degree.

You are of course right. I generally find myself on the opposite side of such arguments - I’m a bisexual millennial / zoomer (I’m kinda in the gray area where one blends into the other) after all.

But you can’t control the evolution of language beyond certain extreme cases, where many people can agree that a phrase is beyond the pale (e.g. those that still sadly get applied to African Americans by bigots). I don’t see the use of dumb to mean stupid or lame to mean weak as extreme cases. My opinion obviously.

A lame excuse dates to 1942 for example.

A dumb blonde (using the female spelling - pause for irony) dates to 1920.

Spaz is IMO an extreme case, and I don’t use the word.

I think there are many more important battles right now than to reclaim lame and dumb for the disabled. But it would be interesting to hear from any physically disabled AH members.

Em