# Common words that used to have other meanings **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2023, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656 "2023-01-04T14:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/81 "2023-01-06T16:12:19Z")
I’m wondering if perhaps military retirement is earlier than in the general population, as early as 46 if you joined at 18 and got plenty of construct time.\* Police and fire fighters tend to retire early as well. Is a ‘veteran’ firefighter generally assumed to be out of the game? I don’t travel enough in their circles to know. \*In the navy (at least) if you sign a four-year enlistment, then reenlist six months early when the retention chief starts hounding you, you get 4 years credit towards your 20 even though you’ve only served 3-1/2. Rinse repeat a few times and you’ve got 20 years credit after only 18 years and some months, depending on the breaks. This is not for some reason as construct time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/82 "2023-01-06T16:32:07Z")
And that’s if you actually retire from the military. Far more common is someone who signs up for a two- or four-year stint, then leaves and goes on to some other career. They’re considered veterans, too. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/83 "2023-01-06T16:35:00Z")
**Jealous** used to mean “protective or vigilant of one’s possessions.” As an example, let’s say Bob owns a coin collection that he highly values and will never part with. We might say, “Bob is jealous of his coin collection.” But somewhere along the way the word morphed into a synonym for **envious**. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/84 "2023-01-06T16:51:55Z")
Regarding “fair” in “fair of face”: > [@UDS1](#): > > I wouldn’t understand that phrase in any other way. True, but isn’t that almost a fossil idiom, or whatever it’s called, where the archaic sense of “fair” has survived only in that specific phrase? Perhaps not quite, because there are multiple phrases - “fair maiden”, perhaps a few others. But I don’t think it’s commonly used nowadays as a standalone word to mean beautiful. ETA: incidentally, here’s a wiki listing dozens of them, interesting reading and somewhat relevant to the OP. > **[Fossil word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_word)** > > A fossil word is a word that is broadly obsolete but remains in current use due to its presence within an idiom, word sense, or phrase. An example for a word sense is 'ado' in 'much ado'. An example for a phrase is 'in point' (relevant), which is retained in the larger phrases 'case in point' (also 'case on point' in the legal context) and 'in point of fact', but is rarely used outside of a legal context. > These words were formed from other languages, by elision, or by mincing of other fixed phra... ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/85 "2023-01-06T17:37:34Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Is a ‘veteran’ firefighter generally assumed to be out of the game? In the U.K., in some contexts it would definitely not mean someone who is “out of the game”: Veteran footballer - highly experienced active player Retired footballer - inactive In other contexts, it doesn’t work that way - a military veteran, for example. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/86 "2023-01-06T17:55:25Z")
A veteran firefighter, police officer etc is a police officer/firefighter who has been doing that for a long time and is still doing so. A retired police officer/firefighter is just that - even if they retired at 40ish. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/87 "2023-01-06T18:12:45Z")
Used to be an “office” wasn’t a place as much as it was what we would now call a “job.” It still exists in that sense, but only in the sense of an electing office. We speak of a politician seeking office, but we don’t say anymore “I’d like an office” unless you’re talking about a physical place. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/88 "2023-01-06T19:43:03Z")
I used to work at Old Swinford Hospital, which is a school, not a medical facility. It takes its name from the old use of the word hospital to mean a place where you could be a guest. So a boarding school, almshouses and medical places were all known as hospitals. Whenever we took the kids on school trips people were always amazed at how healthy they looked! Interestingly, it’s one of the few schools in the UK to have its own morgue following a cholera outbreak in the 1700’s. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/89 "2023-01-06T19:55:12Z")
It’s not just any old job , but it’s also not limited to elected positions. It’s also used for appointed positions such as Secretary of State and also for the head of a college or university. For the non-elected positions, you won’t see “seeking office” but you will see “assumed office " or " In Office September 2001 - July 2011” ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/90 "2023-01-06T20:15:31Z")
Heh. Stolen from Heinlein. My favorite example of this is the word “Kinky”. Used to mean curly, bent up, overall not straight. “My garden hose is all kinky”. Nowadays, it most often refers to an out-of-normal-but-not-yet-deviant practice. i.e. using a feather is kinky. Using the chicken is deviant. Real life example - If you see a woman with very curly hair, definitely don’t tell her you admire her kinky hair. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/91 "2023-01-06T20:33:17Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > True, but isn’t that almost a fossil idiom, or whatever it’s called, where the archaic sense of “fair” has survived only in that specific phrase? Perhaps not quite, because there are multiple phrases - “fair maiden”, perhaps a few others. But I don’t think it’s commonly used nowadays as a standalone word to mean beautiful. There’s also “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”, and Eris’ apple engraved “For the fairest”. Not as common as it used to be, maybe, but far from fossilized. > [@Noelq](#): > > My favorite example of this is the word “Kinky”. Used to mean curly, bent up, overall not straight. “My garden hose is all kinky”. The original meaning was “knotted”. The sexual meaning originally referred specifically to bondage. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/92 "2023-01-06T20:35:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > far from fossilized To be clear, the “fossilized” part isn’t implying that the _idiomatic phrase_ is out of date. Just the opposite - the analogy with fossilization is that a word that is no longer used a standalone word is “preserved” in the (still current) idiom. Having said that, I agree that “fair” is probably best described as a transitional case, since it’s present in so many current phrases. ---
**Author:** ![BurglarGenie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BurglarGenie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurglarGenie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/93 "2023-01-06T21:04:27Z")
Talent was originally just a measure of weight, then of money (for its weight of precious metal). Now it is a description of particular skill or ability. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/94 "2023-01-06T21:57:18Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > But somewhere along the way the word morphed into a synonym for **envious**. And that drives me nuts, but people truly don’t get the difference. When I say “I’m envious” in a complimentary way, they feel sorry for me. I’ve even heard “I’m not envious, I’m jealous!” 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/95 "2023-01-06T21:59:33Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > This is not for some reason as construct time. This is **known** for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/96 "2023-01-06T22:06:03Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Having said that, I agree that “fair” is probably best described as a transitional case, since it’s present in so many current phrases. Hey, we found a transitional fossil. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/97 "2023-01-07T00:59:15Z")
I thought of a very recent fossil. OK, that sounds like an oxymoron. What I mean is a word that’s fossilized within the memory of living people. **Bully** as an adjective, meaning “good” or “excellent”. When’s the last time you heard someone use that? But it survives in the phrase “bully pulpit”, which T Roosevelt famously used to describe the Presidency. Way back in the 1960s, there was a commercial which had an older man say to a kid “bully for your mommy”. I can’t recall the product, but the phrase went virial for a couple months. But even then it sounded somewhat old fashioned. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/98 "2023-01-07T01:33:31Z")
At the time the US was founded, democracy was synonymous with mob rule, and was viewed with suspicion. The founders emphasized “republican government” instead. Now, we view democracy as a reference to a representative system akin to their republican terminology. And, of course, the term republican has clearly adopted a specific, partisan ideology. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/99 "2023-01-07T03:14:55Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > **Bully** as an adjective, meaning “good” or “excellent”. The expression “bully for you” is also current, at least in the U.K. = good for you, well done - but almost invariably used sarcastically. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656/100 "2023-01-07T19:46:16Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > In the 90’s (thanks to Southpark) it was used to describe dumb or stupid behavior. This usage predates South Park by at least 2 decades. I know because I was there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-that-used-to-have-other-meanings/977656.md?page=6)