Can we talk semantics here?

[crashmybike]

se·man·tics:  (noun plural but singular or plural in construction)
1: the study of meanings: the historical and psychological study and the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms viewed as factors in linguistic development
2: general semantics:  a doctrine and educational discipline intended to improve habits of response of

Comments

[chiaroscuro25]

In the Discworld novels, in Ephebe, the only country with any pretensions to democracy, the leader they elect for a five year term is called the Tyrant. :)

[sallymiculek]

That comes from the ancient Greeks, I'm pretty sure, and it was a good thing to be an elected Tyrant. Dunno when tyranny came to have its contemporary meaning.

[chiaroscuro25]

I knew tyrant was Greek, and Ephebe is definitely the Discworld equivalent of ancient Greece (e.g., shop keepers keep extra towels handy because having naked wet philosophers running down the street shouting Eureka! is a common occurrence), but I thought the Tyrant being elected was Pratchett's normal humorous twist on things.

[sensedatum]

2 thoughts:
1) Totally agree on Bacon. As a *lover* of bacon, any non-pig replacement is just fake meat. Call it ham or morning turkey or something but it's just never bacon.
2) I was watching the inauguration the other night (I don't remember what channel) and the talking head said "A historic moment, Barak Obama just became the ruler of the United States." I yelled at him. He's not my ruler, thank you, he's the executor of the laws written by congress.

[nationelectric]

YOU DARE SPEAK SO INSOLENTLY OF YOUR RULER?!?

KNEEL BEFORE LORD O'BAMA, PITIFUL HU-MON WORM! PRAY THAT HE VALUES YOUR LIFE MORE THAN YOU DO...

[uuscullyfan]

I can testify, he really did yell that at him. And it was Lehrer, who seems like a nice guy otherwise.

[sallymiculek]

While its origins root it with emperors and pre-Bolshevik Russia, a second accepted meaning (OED and Merriam-Webster, at least) of the word "czar" is that it's a person with great authority and/or power. That's sort of the problem with language--it grows and changes and accepted meanings change, too. Look at what Seinfeld did to "nazi," which I'm now learning as I look at its OED entry, actually took a meaning that dates at least to a 1982 PJ ORourke article in Inquiry. I digress.

I think it's sometimes truly annoying when words that have very weighty (especially socially significant) meanings get lightened up, but I love having a native language that is as adaptable as is English and can accept some of the annoyance in trade for that flexibility.

Don't get me started on people who say, "utilize," though. I think a special spot in Linguistic Hell should be reserved for the users of "utilize." Also, "as per." That one seems to be up-and-coming in "utilize" circles. Drives. Me. Batty.

[sensedatum]

I think my friends have big brains.

Another interesting adaptation that I've noticed lately is more "verbing" of nouns. Popular instances lately: "friending" (thank you Facebook and Myspace); "tweeting". I cannot decide if it's yet another sign of the impending implosion of the language (the apocalypsing) or just a useful.

[chiaroscuro25]

"just a useful" - I love it! Since it would often be followed by a useless metasyntactic word (e.g., "just a useful thing"), why not make it stand alone?

[chiaroscuro25]

And I do like the irony that a great example of verbing a noun is the word verbing itself. :)