If scientists get busy developing time travel, we’re going to have some very confusing conversations between people from different eras. Slang is constantly updating and developing with new generations, and even existing words change meaning over time. A conversation can get derailed by a single word when the participants don’t agree on its meaning. For example, describing a sunset as “awful” could have two distinct meanings. In its original usage, the meaning was “inspiring reverential wonder or fear,” describing anything that inspired the feeling of awe in a person. But these days, “awful” has shifted to mean “very bad or unpleasant.” This didn’t happen because a bunch of dictionary professionals (lexicographers) suddenly changed their mind about a definition; instead, these changes are a result of a phenomenon called semantic shift.
“Semantic” means “relating to meaning in language or logic.” It comes from the ancient Greek words sēmantikos (“significant”) and sēmainein (“signify”). Semantics are about the words we use to point out what we mean. When someone claims “it’s just semantics,” they’re not saying that the words don’t matter. They’re pointing out that the meaning is more important than the specific word choice. In the case of semantic shift, it usually occurs because of societal forces happening around the words.
The funniest instances of semantic shift happen when a word ends up with an entirely opposite meaning to what it started with. For example, the original definition of “egregious,” documented back in the 1500s, was positive: “distinguished, eminent, great, or renowned.” From its literal Latin origin, it meant “standing out from the flock.”
However, the Oxford English Dictionary identifies an ironic use of that positive definition even back in the day. Since “egregious” was a synonym for “exceptional,” calling someone an “egregious liar” was an effective juxtaposition. That was the beginning of the semantic shift: winking irony to the understood meaning. A new, widely understood meaning of “egregious” shifted to “bad, wrong, outrageous, or offensive,” and eventually that became the primary use of the word.
There are a lot of different ways for semantics to shift, but popular culture is a major factor. Think of the recent update to the definition of “literally” — while the literal definition still stands, we now use it to also stand in for “figuratively.” As words’ meanings shift, so do our perceptions.
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