Words that have stopped being used or changed meaning

[MrPixel]

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

Don't forget "celebration of life", the newish euphemism for "funeral service".

 

[gunhilltrain]

Your threads tend to do this

That's odd, it's the other way around at the places I've been to here stateside. Only the larger places like the Colorado Railroad Museum have a bookstore and their books feature entire railroads. That's where I fell in love with a writer named Lucius Beebe. His stories and photographs of traveling by rail throughout the United States in the 1920s through the 1960s really captured the flavor of the railroads at the time.

At least trains do something useful. I don't play video games, probably because they weren't around when I was young. And if people enjoy them, that is fine. But some people are truly obsessed with them. But then all fiction, including what is on Lit, can be defined as "fantasies" too.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

At least trains do something useful. I don't play video games, probably because they weren't around when I was young. And if people enjoy them, that is fine. But some people are truly obsessed with them. But then all fiction, including what is on Lit, can be defined as "fantasies" too.

There's always a point of view available where a given activity is a waste of effort. How generally accepted that point of view may be can change rather radically, 'tho, and even that degree of general acceptance often, almost always, changes over time and place.

 

[alohadave]

Don't forget "celebration of life", the newish euphemism for "funeral service".

There is marketing language and industry jargon, and then there is what every really says.

I don't know anyone that says "celebration of life" in everyday use. It's still a funeral.

 

[Bramblethorn]

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

Em

A new usage has arisen, yes. But the old usage isn't extinct - it's old-fashioned, but I've encountered it in conversation now and then - and there's enough of a relationship between the derogatory use and the disability term that it can still be problematic, in the same kind of way as using "that's so gay" or "what a spaz" as an insult. The people using those terms might not wish to invoke that etymological baggage, but that doesn't mean it isn't invoked.

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.

Pretty clearly language does change, so yes, it appears to be within the power of humans* to accomplish changes to language, even without totalitarian government programs involved.

*At least, I assume it's humans doing it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

There's always a point of view available where a given activity is a waste of effort. How generally accepted that point of view may be can change rather radically, 'tho, and even that degree of general acceptance often, almost always, changes over time and place.

You could say that eating, sleeping, drinking (water), and procreating are the only truly necessary activities. That's what, say, deer or cows do all day long. Well, there is dealing with the weather (shelter), although our pre-human ancestors lived in warm climates and didn't even have clothes.

 

[Trionyx]

Another term with an upswing in popularity...EMILY

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/05/...te=1&user_id=828f2865a55ae89bd1f35faa36da6909

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Another fun bit of this whole discussion is that, even in a given time and place, there's no single correct definition for many English words. (I only speak American and heavily accented English, Scottish, and Australian, so I'll leave others to address other languages.)

For example, 'smoker' could be someone with a cigar/cigarette/pipe habit, or a food preparation device, or a class of submerged volcanic hotspots. 'Booking' could be a part of the arrest process, moving swiftly, or scheduling a resource. Etc.

Context is rarely explicit.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Another term with an upswing in popularity...EMILY

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/05/...te=1&user_id=828f2865a55ae89bd1f35faa36da6909

It’s scientifically proven that Emilys / Emilies (delete as applicable) are 47.3% better at giving oral sex (no significant variation in was found based on the gender of the recipient) and 38.5% better at receiving it (with a slightly higher score recorded for female donors than male). They also are smarter than the average bear.

Em

 

[Emilymcplugger]

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

This comic also featured the infamous Robin slap meme.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

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

Captain America! I command you to WANK!

 

[MrPixel]

Hey, guys... they're no longer comic books. They are graphic novels!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Hey, guys... they're no longer comic books. They are graphic novels!

Pictorial novellas surely?

Em

 

[jehoram]

I don't know anyone that says "celebration of life" in everyday use. It's still a funeral.

And easier to say... half the syllables.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

It’s scientifically proven that Emilys / Emilies (delete as applicable) are 47.3% better at giving oral sex (no significant variation in was found based on the gender of the recipient) and 38.5% better at receiving it (with a slightly higher score recorded for female donors than male). They also are smarter than the average bear.

Em

Don’t like receiving it. Nothing with teeth goes down there.

I must be in the minority.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Don’t like receiving it. Nothing with teeth goes down there.

I must be in the minority.

Button-fly all the way then? No zippers?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Don’t like receiving it. Nothing with teeth goes down there.

I must be in the minority.

That’s just plain weird. No room for sickos like you in a wholesome place like this.

We don’t serve their kind!

Em

 

[Smuttyandfun]

There is marketing language and industry jargon, and then there is what every really says.

I don't know anyone that says "celebration of life" in everyday use. It's still a funeral.

From my experience, a celebration of life is more a casual get together, for friends and loved ones to share memories and celebrate the life the person lived. Often they're held in halls or community centers, rather than a place of worship.

 

[jehoram]

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 whole story can be found in Steven Levy's book Hackers, and it's a great read (and mostly accurate, too).

BTW, there's a link to the famous "Jargon File" collected by Eric Raymond and others. Don't click on that link unless you want to have hours of your life mysteriously sucked away.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

That’s just plain weird. No room for sickos like you in a wholesome place like this.

We don’t serve their kind!

Em

Meh! I get that a lot. I don’t drink, have never done drugs, don’t see the point in going out drinking a lot, and don’t receive oral.

I’ve always been kind of an outlier.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Button-fly all the way then? No zippers?

Correct.

 

[Moon Glade]

I have to throw in my two cents here (where did that get started?):

Years ago a male Brit friend and I were talking about a female friend that we both felt highly of (where did thinking 'highly' originate?) when he said he thought he would go by and 'knock her up'. I asked why the hell would he want to do that? His response was because he liked her and hadn't seen her in awhile and I responded that's well and good but why do you want to make her pregnant? He looked at me at that point and said, "What are you talking about?"

English and American....two different languages.

 

[onehitwanda]

Captain America! I command you to WANK!

Every so often I forget this exists and find it again and laugh until I wee all over again!

 

[onehitwanda]

and don’t receive oral.

https://media.tenor.com/zX_tLb6Sv80AAAAC/the-big-lebowski-jeff-bridges.gif

 

[EmilyMiller]

English and American....two different languages.

This is my life!

Em