wacky wednesday - what's that mean?

I like to ponder things while I am cleaning. Often this pondering leads to some research. And yes, that does slow down my cleaning but it also makes it much more enjoyable!

This week I was ruminating on how word meanings change or new meanings are added over time. Sometimes these new meanings are short-lived, especially if they are slang. For example, the word "boss" has been in use as a noun meaning "overseer" since the 1640's. It was popular in the American colonies where the word "master" was avoided (since the colonists were all about "freedom") but  there was a need to distinguish between slave and free labor. Ironic, huh? The teeny-bopppers of the 1950's may believe that they came up with the slang usage as an adjective meaning "excellent" but there are documented examples of its popularity in the 1880's. In both eras, its acclaim as a slang expression was short-lived.

Other times, new meanings for words are permanent - or are in use for a very long time. The verb "tape" has been around since the 1600's and was derived from the Old English noun meaning "a narrow strip of cloth used for tying, measuring, etc." In 1932, the meaning "to attach with adhesive tape" was added and in the 1950's it also meant, "to make a tape recording."

As I continued with my cleaning, I thought about words I commonly used as a child and the different meanings they have today.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX	THEN:	NOW:
Web	A home for spiders, intricately woven using spun silk they exude from their body, is often “sticky” and traps other insects for the spider’s dinner	Short for the “World Wide Web”, it refers to the pages on the Internet (a network of networks) that can be accessed using a Web browser (like Safari, or Internet Explorer for example).  To the user, it appears as though any page is reachable from any place – a web
Cloud	A collection of water vapor suspended in the air - the white puffy things we laid on the grass and stared at	Often used synonymously with “Internet” but more frequently used to describe specific online services (like data storage) that exist “somewhere on the Internet”
Memory	Remembering something that happened in the past or a part of your brain that stores information so you remember that 2x2=4	Storage location for information in a computer, disk drive, removable media (e.g., memory stick), etc.
Login	In 2nd grade we learned how to add the suffix “ing” to common 3-letter words with a short vowel sound (like “sun”). On the spelling test, I misspelled “logging” as “login” – and never forgot the two “words” - one was correct and one was not	A combination of information (usually a username and password) that authenticates your identity before a computer or website allows you access. It is should be used as a noun, never a verb – i.e., you don’t login to a computer, you log in with your login
Thong	A type of sandal with a thin strap between the big toe and the next toe - now called flip flops	a type of skimpy underwear that exposes the buttocks, consisting of a strip of fabric that passes between the thighs and attaches to a band around the waist
Nuke	Short for a nuclear missile - not something to be joked about (I grew up during the Cuban Missile Crisis)	Slang for cooking something in a microwave oven

I decided it is a good thing to keep abreast of current word usage and meanings - to keep growing our vocabularies. I guarantee that asking the sales associate at Target where the thongs are will not get you to the shoe department.