# What Other Words Have Lost Their Original Meanings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2002, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414 "2002-06-11T08:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/101 "2026-03-14T14:58:28Z")
“Quick” also had the archaic definition of “alive” (e.g., “the quick and the dead",” which were originally antonyms) and quicksilver moves like it’s alive. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/102 "2026-03-16T21:54:51Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > inflammable has come to mean non-inflammable. I always hear that claimed. But I have never seen a single attested instance of someone using it in that sense. What I see all the time is the assumption that some dumbass people are bound to misinterpret it sometime or other. Whether anyone has seriously used it in that sense is unconfirmed. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > but people began to take the “in-” prefix to mean negation (eg, “insane,” “inarticulate,” “injustice,” etc.) Cite for genuine occurrences of this? I think now everybody just repeats it because they’ve always heard it repeated. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/103 "2026-03-16T23:04:52Z")
Fowler’s _Modern English Usage._ ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/104 "2026-03-16T23:52:14Z")
If nobody can produce a single attested example found in the wild, then I remain skeptical that it ever happened. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/105 "2026-03-17T00:18:55Z")
I suspect most people nowadays would just refer to something that doesn’t catch fire as “fire-resistant” or “flame-retardant.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/106 "2026-03-17T04:14:08Z")
“Inflammable” has largely fallen into desuetude. A “jerk” originally meant something more like “clueless person” or “yoyo.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/107 "2026-03-17T15:08:39Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > A “jerk” originally meant something more like “clueless person” or “yoyo.” I remember being puzzled by a decades-old newspaper comic about a DMV photographer with the punchline “On the count of three…look like a jerk!” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/108 "2026-03-17T15:15:12Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > A lady present was offended and only the fact that I was a Sleeper—which I hastily explained—kept her husband from giving me a mouthful of knuckles. I swear I somewhere read almost this exact same scenario, only the inadvertent insult was “hostess”, which evidently in the future was used in the _biological_ sense. > [@Pleonast](#): > > _quick_: originally meant alive, as in “the quick and the dead”, then shifted to lively, and now usually means rapid or high speed. As in “quicken”, when a pregnant woman can first feel fetal movement. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/109 "2026-03-17T16:18:28Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I swear I somewhere read almost this exact same scenario, only the inadvertent insult was “hostess”, which evidently in the future was used in the _biological_ sense. That does sound familiar ---
**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:** [March 17, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/110 "2026-03-17T16:34:10Z")
Most people use the word “jealous” as a synonym for envious. But the original meaning described a person who was fiercely protective of their _own_ possessions. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/111 "2026-03-17T18:10:51Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > I swear I somewhere read almost this exact same scenario, only the inadvertent insult was “hostess”, which evidently in the future was used in the _biological_ sense. > > That does sound familiar That Isaac Asimov story? I’m surprised that you of all people didn’t recognize it. > **[Hostess (short story)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostess_(short_story))** > > "Hostess" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the May 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1969 collection Nightfall and Other Stories and Robot Dreams. > The story involves an alien medical doctor who visits Earth as part of research into the unique fact that only Earth beings age and die. His idea of why this happens is proven true in an unexpected way. > Humanity has met four other intelligent non-human races. While ... ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/112 "2026-03-17T18:28:04Z")
I remember the Asimov story - but there wasn’t any implication of insult about “hostess” as I recall ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/113 "2026-03-17T18:56:02Z")
There is a deliberate double meaning of the word “hostess” , explicitly spelled out, as in: 1. A person that accommodates guests 2. the vector for an infectious disease ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/114 "2026-03-17T19:04:00Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > A “jerk” originally meant something more like “clueless person” or “yoyo.” Ref. the Steve Martin movie _The Jerk_, where he plays a friendly, polite, well-meaning idiot. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/115 "2026-03-17T20:16:43Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I remember being puzzled by a decades-old newspaper comic about a DMV photographer with the punchline “On the count of three…look like a jerk!” There was an old cartoon- maybe a Far Side, where a motorist sees a sign “Dip in road” then later a goofy looking guy . I have not heard that second meaning of “Dip” (or maybe a 3rd or 4th) since I was a kid. Nor do the couple of online dictionaries list it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/116 "2026-03-17T20:28:03Z")
There’s an old Don Martin cartoon where two roadworkers are arguing, and one calls the other guy a “dip.” Then he accidentally triggers the cement mixer and buries the other guy. Last panel is the finished road, with a large, man-shaped bump in the middle, and a sign that says, “Caution: Dip in Road.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/117 "2026-03-17T21:08:24Z")
MAD also ran a fake ad showing a room full of dorky-looking guys enjoying potato chips, with the slogan “Pringles: For All the Dips at Your Party!” ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/118 "2026-03-17T23:06:56Z")
I recall a Hagar the Horrible cartoon where they were throwing a party, and a guest asks Helga “where did you get the dip?” She looks towards Hagar and Eddie and says “oh, he’s been friends with my husband for years.” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/119 "2026-03-17T23:26:20Z")
Yes, but there isn’t an inadvertent insult because in the future “hostess” is only used in the biological sense. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/120 "2026-03-18T01:06:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There was an old cartoon- maybe a Far Side, where a motorist sees a sign “Dip in road” then later a goofy looking guy . Johnny Hart. I’ve never understood what “dip” means. Anyone care to elucidate? [![](https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780449136782-us.jpg) ](https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780449136782-us.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414.md?page=7)