career

[burnhal]

anyone got any idea why this should have two completely different meanings? ie career as in a steady work progression, and at the other end of the scale career as in swerving wildly.

[Jugglering]

The word career comes from the French *carriere*, from the Italian *carriera* and is based on the Latin *carrus* ~ wheeled vehicle. The 16th C origin denotes a roadway or racecourse and thus fits in with your second interpretation - move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way. I have never seen *career* described as a "steady work progression"; to me it means (as the Concise Oxford Dictionary explains it), "an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life, usually with opportunities for progress".... I like the bit 'opportunities for progress' because they fit with the COD explanation !

[jno]

"So I was in my car, and I was driving along, and my boss rang up, and he said 'You've been promoted.' And I swerved. And then he rang up a second time and said "You've been promoted again.' And I swerved again. He rang up a third time and said 'You're managing director.' And I went into a tree. And a policeman came up and said 'What happened to you?' And I said 'I careered off the road.'

- Tim Vine but sometimes attributed to Tommy Cooper

[fredpuli47]

The OED says that career meant 'a short gallop of a horse at full speed, as well as 'a racecourse'. The other 'career' is , perhaps, joining the rat race rather than a horse race.That's not recorded until the C19

'Curriculum vitae', CV, is Latin for the same idea of racing: curriculum originally meant 'a running course;a race;a race track'' and vitae 'of life'.

[beso]

The Australian Macquarie Dictionary make no reference to "swerving wildly". Your application of the word is incorrect. The meanings are consistent.

Career simply means to move rapidly whether that is in a job or a vehicle.

The word corridor is from the same root.

[fredpuli47]

The word careen means to career or swerve wildly.Strictly it refers to a ship tilting over but has come, perhaps influenced by career,to mean to rush headlong or hurtle unsteadily.

[ll_billym]

Beso is correct. The word means the same thing, to progress or move. This applies whether you are moving in your woking life or moving off the road.

The working life meaning does not need any qalifying description.. "He had a distinguished career". The road mishap one does "He careered into a tree".

[burnhal]

thanks for all your thoughts, people!