44
votes
Accepted
How did "to draw" shift to mean "to depict with lines"?
Emerging ca. 1200, draw in the graphic sense comes from drawing some implement or material — pen, pencil, chalk, etc. — across an appropriate surface:
Draw thanne by thi rewle a lyne fro the hed of ...
- 28.2k
15
votes
On the usage of POV in social media
There is a shift at least in its connotation. As a 'technical term' it was mainly used in literature and film until recently:
"Point of view" existed long before teenagers took over TikTok ...
- 37.1k
9
votes
Is “What goes around comes around” African-American?
The earliest instance of the phrase I could find appears in 1952 in The Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American newspaper. It uses the phrase in parallel to other positive sentiments, suggesting a ...
- 22.7k
7
votes
When an entity 'fails' to do an action, does it imply that they 'ought' to do that action?
Merriam-Webster provides several definitions for "fail." Three of these pertain to your usage of the word:
2a. to fall short
2b. to be or become absent or inadequate
2c. to be ...
- 525
7
votes
How did "to draw" shift to mean "to depict with lines"?
There is not really a significant semantic shift, given that to produce a "drawing" one must still drag/pull the pen/pencil/chalk across a surface. The real issue is the appropriating of physical ...
- 166
7
votes
What is the meaning of "to have" in old cartoons?
Based on this “Little Red Riding Rabbit” TVTropes page, ta have is an affectation of Red:
Verbal Tic: Red ends a lot of her lines with the exclamation “Ta’
Have!”, just another thing that makes her ...
- 19.8k
5
votes
Accepted
"them" vs. "those"
The idea occurred to me that them might be used when the referred amount of objects is very vague and unspecific.
It seems much more likely that this is derived from uses of other plural personal ...
- 19.6k
5
votes
Accepted
When was "to list" meaning "to wish" lost?
The OED has citations up to the 19th century, although it now labels this meaning (list v1) as "archaic". One common construction is in a subordinate clause with "as thee list", &...
- 10.9k
4
votes
Is “What goes around comes around” African-American?
RaceYouAnytime's first recorded occurrence from 1952 will be very difficult to beat, and the fact that the first occurrence is in a newspaper dedicated to a black readership strongly suggests an ...
- 169k
4
votes
Accepted
Linguistic connection between the geophysical "bluff" and the deceptive "bluff"?
The deceptive bluff comes from the Middle Dutch bluffen meaning to swell or brag.
The geophysical bluff comes from the Middle Low German blaff meaning smooth.
Perhaps they may be related through the ...
- 1,044
4
votes
When an entity 'fails' to do an action, does it imply that they 'ought' to do that action?
You are actually asking two questions here: does "failed to do such and such" mean both that they tried to do it, and also that they ought to do it. I think user770884 answers the first ...
- 16.9k
4
votes
When did 'wyrm' lose its meaning as dragon?
According to the OED, wyrm (in the spelling worm) was first used to refer to the earthworm and similar creatures in Middle English, and even in early use it seemed to refer to a wide range of creepy ...
- 41.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Is the use of the word "cracker" as a racial slur so common that it cannot safely be used to refer to certain hackers?
There's a lot going on here.
'cracker' for someone who breaks into software (which is not too distant from 'hacker') is probably metaphorical for 'safe cracker'. In the context of software, saying ...
- 72.1k
3
votes
Origins of the shift in usage/meaning of the word "religion"
In response to the poster’s three questions:
When/where did this word start to shift meaning? (Was this an
Emergent era thing? Before that?)
This is not a "new" phenomenon, as other ...
- 2,155
3
votes
Accepted
Timeline of semantic change of the term "social justice warrior" (SJW)
Regarding the broadening of the term (from bullet point 2 to 3 in your question), I would say this was a result of gamergaters picking up and hugely popularising the term and this can be shown through ...
- 46
3
votes
Timeline of semantic change of the term "social justice warrior" (SJW)
Antecedents: Early links between 'social justice' and 'warrior'
The connection of "social justice" and "warrior" goes back much farther than the 1990s. Consider this "pen ...
- 169k
2
votes
What is the real history of the word "scenario"?
I don't have the reputation to comment on @jon-hanna's post, but I came across this RAND paper from 1967, written by Harvey A. DeWeerd. This appears to prove that scenario was being used in a military ...
- 21
2
votes
How did "right-on" become pejorative in BrEng?
WordReference.com has interesting discussion of a similar question about the meaning of "right-on". It appears that the compound adjective usage, with possible pejorative overtones, is predominately ...
- 1,041
2
votes
Accepted
Is “What goes around comes around” African-American?
This is merely to supplement the other (excellent) answers with some more information.
AAVE?
Per the book African-American English: Structure, History, and Use, this phrase originated in black ...
- 8,646
2
votes
Accepted
How did "womanizer" develop its current meaning?
The first instance of womanize, ‘to emaculate, make feminine/effeminate’ dates from the time men wore velvet, lace collars, and a large pearl earring if their wealth permitted:
for as the loue of ...
- 28.2k
2
votes
Term for metonymy becoming an accepted word for the original, over time
In your example of "Tea", it is a SYNECDOCHE. Other examples of a synecdoche are when a car is called wheels, and when a credit card is called plastic. Incidentally, I'm from New Zealand, and when ...
- 1,607
2
votes
Term for metonymy becoming an accepted word for the original, over time
This is called a
dead metaphor
A phrase that was formerly a figure of speech, but by semantic shift, its literal meaning becomes what the metaphor applied to.
Another very related example is
...
- 72.1k
2
votes
Accepted
“Mining” as opposed to “minting” w.r.t. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
"Mining" is apparently the established term for bitcoin, which seems to have been influential on following cryptocurrencies (I don't know much about the history of cryptocurrencies, so I can't give a ...
- 84.5k
2
votes
Usage of "high school" and "secondary school" in British Columbia
A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (1967) has the following entry for "high school":
high school a secondary school having four or five grades, the number of grades and ...
- 169k
1
vote
Is saying "X allows anything to happen without any restriction" the same as saying "According to X anything can happen without any restriction"
In statement 1, X is the authority who allows.
In statement 2, X has an opinion, but it is not known whether X is the authority or not.
- 1,910
1
vote
Is "to call someone out" in the sense of "to criticize/accuse/shame publicly" a new use?
I did a search through Google Books for variations on this phrase, such as "to call out," "call them out on," etc. Here's some of what I found, including an apparent use of it in ...
- 308
1
vote
Is "to call someone out" in the sense of "to criticize/accuse/shame publicly" a new use?
As the duplicate question alludes to, the OED's first citation for this sense is from 1981.
call out [under call, Phrasal Verbs]
Originally and chiefly U.S. To expose or identify (a person) as
acting ...
- 24.1k
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