Can you list words that changed their meaning over time?

fat…phat

sick
See ya….Gary/wtf

Faggot could fall into that category.

Gross—used to connote large or ungainly but not disgusting, which came about in the late 70s to early 80s I think.

Mental—Used fairly recently in the sense of crazy or psycho.

Lame.

Thong (sandal)—> Thong (underwear)

anything from this site: http://www.urbandictionary.com/

bad.

That record is really bad.

Thousands and thousands of them. That is the nature of language. I’ll name one. A Harlot used to be a term reserved for a man who served in a Court.

Fat, great, cool.(dont ask me where I get these from)gnarly, sick, peace, hang, chill, kickback

For most of its history cute meant shrewd. Now it’s taken on a completely different meaning.

@AstroChuck Well, aren’t you cute.

wicked
nice
awful
wonderful
fantastic
hot

Bitch.

Fey.

Dude.

cock

Suck.

tubular

Net.

Gentleman.

Gay.

@gailcalled See the details.

Hooker.

Almost all words change meanings over time. The only ones that don’t really change (they still do, but VERY VERY slowly) are numbers, and some words that are considered “most basic” for example names for family members (mother, brother, etc).

I remember when awesome was reserved for things that truly filled one with awe. Now the new breakfast burrito at Carl’s Jr. might be called awesome.

@AstroChuck Isn’t that kind of subjective?

Bowl

Socialist. It used to refer to a particular ideology concerning pay and power for blue-collar workers.

Now it’s tossed around any time you try to make the world a better place within the corporatist frame we’re stuck with.

I can’t believe no one has said: Text and Cell !!

Liberal, conservative, fascist, socialist, left-wing, right-wing, and just about any other word referring to political ideologies.

@bob- No. It’s sarcastic.

Pussy

yes yes I know you’re mad that you didn’t think of it first

Snatch

Beaver

@AstroChuck Oh. So you are cute.

Bob

Yes?

That’s a good one too. “Yes” is definitely a word that can change meaning over time. Sometimes meaning “No”.

Wicked.

Boner

atheism

The word emergency used to mean anything that emerged. The first use was in the 17thcentury when someone described corpses emerging from a lake. People used to say there was an emergency of flowers in the springtime. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that it meant what it means to day.

If anyone is actually interested in the history of word origins and definitions, go to the library and check out the Oxford English dictionary. It sounds geeky, but it’s really interesting to look up random words and see where they came from and how they changed.

If you’ve got more money than you know what to do with, you could get a subscription online to OED. It’s 300 bucks a year. I’d check and see if your local library or university grants access first.

Tubular.

I think the definition developed a branch meaning something like awesome in the 1980’s.

Mistress was once the title of a married woman, now it refers to a woman a married man is having an extra marital affair… :-/ or maybe a dominatrix……

@Scooby
Actually mistress once meant “female teacher”, or “governess”.
Then it meant the woman of a man besides his wife.
I doubt it ever meant wife or married woman.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mistress

@ragingloli

Oh I seem to have gotten a little confused & muddled my Mistress & Mrs :-/
Here is my source of information, just to clear this up, the point I was trying to make! ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhuExBHFjhs

Wickeds who propegate bad as good and good as bad, just as the Holy Bible prophetized.

Fruits & Vegetables

Beefsteak

Also, “regulate” has changed meaning.

How “pragmatic” of you to notice.