ChatterBank1 min ago
What the words used to mean?
6 Answers
I can remember seeing a list of words that used to mean something entirely different in days gone by.
A mouse would be something that would scurry across the kitchen floor.
Windows were something you would hang curtains up to.
Gay would mean a happy cheerful person.
Wicked was another word for evil but now it's means great.
Would love to hear of other words that are used in a different way now.
A mouse would be something that would scurry across the kitchen floor.
Windows were something you would hang curtains up to.
Gay would mean a happy cheerful person.
Wicked was another word for evil but now it's means great.
Would love to hear of other words that are used in a different way now.
Answers
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Historically a "computer" was a person who filled in spread sheets with mathematical solutions they worked out with pencil and paper.
Now we have the "personal computer" that does most of this for us.
Computer scientist are now struggling to create a computer that thinks and behaves like a person.
What's next . . . a computer that sits down with pencil and paper trying to figure out how to make a person?
Now we have the "personal computer" that does most of this for us.
Computer scientist are now struggling to create a computer that thinks and behaves like a person.
What's next . . . a computer that sits down with pencil and paper trying to figure out how to make a person?
'Nice' used to mean exactly the opposite, but thanks to a greater use of sarcasm, it's reverting back to its original meaning.
'Meat' comes from the Germanic 'mete' which simply meant 'food'.
'Gay' is changing meaning again, as many younger people use it to mean 'bad'.
'Queer' used to mean odd, and then changed to mean homosexual (offensive), and then was 'reclaimed' and could be positive, and is now a term used in cutting-edge linguistics to mean 'something that is neither heterosexual nor homosexual' (for example the male characters in Coward's plays).
'Meat' comes from the Germanic 'mete' which simply meant 'food'.
'Gay' is changing meaning again, as many younger people use it to mean 'bad'.
'Queer' used to mean odd, and then changed to mean homosexual (offensive), and then was 'reclaimed' and could be positive, and is now a term used in cutting-edge linguistics to mean 'something that is neither heterosexual nor homosexual' (for example the male characters in Coward's plays).
why thank you ma'am. It's easy for an ancient like me to come up with these. Some old boy called Mr. Bridger prints this kind of thing on tea towels. I remember 'crumpet' was something you had for tea in front of the fire (and with a bit of luck, still is...) and 'grass' was something to be mown when there was a dry spell. A 'joint' was was what you roasted for Sunday lunch of course. You got a 'rap' over the knuckles in my class for monkeying about in penmanship and we thought we were multi-cultural when these London kids came to our school as evacuees during the War. 'Mobile' wasn't a noun in those days...
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