Интересное об английском языке

[Алексей Конобеев]

It's interesting to note how words change their meaning with time. For example, the word "awful" used to mean "deserving of awe", "brave" - "cowardice", "counterfeit" - "legitimate copy", "cute" - bow-legged, "girl" - young person of either sex, "guess" - take aim, "neck" - parcel of land, "notorious" - famous, "nuisance" - injury, harm, "quick" - alive (as in quicksilver), "tell" - to count (as in bank teller), the word "silly" used to mean "blessed" or "happy" in the 11th century, "nice" meant stupid and foolish in the late 13th Century, "artificial" used to mean ‘full of artistic or technical skill’, "manufacture" meant "make by hand", "to prove" meant "to test".

"Box" originally was the name of a tree, from which expensive caskets for jewellry were made. Later on the word "box" began to denote... well, a box.

The word "journey" originates from the French word "jour", a day, and at first it mean the way one could go in one day.

"Companion" used to mean "someone who shares your bread".

"Comrade" used to mean "someone who shares your room".

Not only some everyday words changed their meaning, some slang words have made it into dictionaries as well. here are some examples:

Headbanger- a hard rock musician and a fan

 

Dead presidents- Paper currency

 

Prairie Gophering - people who peer above their cubicles at work.

 

McJob- Low paying and dead-end work.

 

Comb-over- an attempt to cover a bald spot

 

Sometimes just knowing about these changes in meaning helps to explain the students why a certain word means this (like a "bank teller").