# 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:** 7
**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 18, 2026, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/121 "2026-03-18T02:23:04Z")
It’s a polite truncation of dipshit or dip-shit. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/122 "2026-03-18T02:52:23Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Johnny Hart. Thank you, maybe that was it. Anyway it certainly fits. This is the original, i think Damn, it wont let me upload it, but it was the three panel version. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/123 "2026-03-18T09:03:31Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > A “jerk” originally meant something more like “clueless person” or “yoyo.” Wait, wait; it still means a ‘clueless person’ in UK slang (I have no clear idea what a yoyo is - someone who vacillates up and down?). Has the meaning of ‘jerk’ changed in US slang now? I see that the online dictionaries associate ‘jerk’ with a rude or annoying person nowadays - something that is not consistent with the Steve Martin film, in which he played a relatively likeable innocent. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/124 "2026-03-18T12:02:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > A lot of the words mentioned so far still retain their old meaning (ecstasy, gay, handicap, spin.) I heard a pretty young person mention how, to paraphrase, some RGB color animation would make the lights gay; they were not talking about the light strip’s sexual orientation, nor was it a pejorative. ---
**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 18, 2026, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/125 "2026-03-18T21:28:35Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Has the meaning of ‘jerk’ changed in US slang now? “Now” being “About forty years ago, give or take.” But yeah, in American English, a jerk is someone who is rude or insulting - a non-vulgar synonym for “asshole.” ---
**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:** [March 18, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/126 "2026-03-18T21:38:32Z")
Hence our prime rule here, “Don’t be a jerk”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/127 "2026-03-18T22:05:45Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s a polite truncation of dipshit or dip-shit. Etymonline says that “Dip” was first attested in the 1920s, where as Wiktionary says that “Dipshit” was first attested in the 1960s, so it would appear that the latter is a dysphemism of the former rather than the reverse. Now, dip_stick_, on the other hand, _that_ I can believe is a euphemism of dipshit. ---
**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:** [March 18, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/128 "2026-03-18T22:08:27Z")
Except that a “dipstick” is an actual thing. What’s a “dipshit”, beyond a vulgarization of “dip”? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/129 "2026-03-18T22:09:53Z")
I meant “dipstick” as in the rarely-used word for “idiot”, not the actual thing used to check fluid levels. It’s easier to see how it could be a euphemism for “dipshit” than to draw any connection between checking fluid levels and idiocy. ---
**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 19, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/130 "2026-03-19T14:28:59Z")
And possibly popularized by Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. “Embarrass” originally meant ‘to block,’ as an impediment in your way. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/131 "2026-03-19T18:38:27Z")
I’ve only ever heard ‘jerk’ used to mean someone rude or obnoxious, and I’m British… ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/132 "2026-03-19T19:02:47Z")
Probably an age-related thing, then. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/133 "2026-03-19T19:21:30Z")
The _Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang_ says “dip” is a back formation from “dippy”. Its first quotation for “dip” is from 1932 and the first for “dippy” is from 1899. First for “dipshit” is from 1962. It agrees that “dipstick” is a euphemism for “dipshit” and its first quotation is from 1963. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/134 "2026-03-19T20:05:59Z")
Same here. I’m a Yank, in my mid-60s. The title of the Steve Martin picture never made sense to me, but it does now. ---
**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 19, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/135 "2026-03-19T20:54:41Z")
Along the same lines as _The Jerk_ is Larry Shue’s 1981 stage play _The Nerd_, whose title character is written as a clueless bumbling oaf rather than a “Revenge of the Nerds” type. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/136 "2026-03-20T05:57:59Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > It agrees that “dipstick” is a euphemism for “dipshit” and its first quotation is from 1963. Caveat/nitpick: Of course, the original meaning of “dipstick” as a “gauging rod”, i.e., literally a stick that is dipped into a vessel of liquid (an engine’s oil pan, a cask or barrel, etc.) to estimate its amount, goes back well into or beyond the 19th century. (Apparently along with a secondary, disparaging, application to some petty functionary, such as an excise officer, who wields the dipstick in formal inspections of commodities etc.) But yeah, you’re right that appropriating the term “dipstick” as a euphemism for “dipshit”, unrelated to its original associations with measurement by a gauging rod, is only a few decades old. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/137 "2026-03-20T11:33:45Z")
**THUG** : Modern meaning: a violent, aggressive person, especially one who is a criminal. Original meaning: a member of a group or organization of [robbers](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=ba3676d5b3d949df&sxsrf=ANbL-n7yety22UDaXdi1O0vatqaVL-pDDQ:1774006021925&q=robbers&si=AL3DRZFEkDaZmmb0xlmPYpZ16WK3wlOmY3PrSM8ge0iukj-LUqnv0UY1NaD7IiPsn-dM4Tn4yN6bCCp78J3Sx2KTMrbwf6Np43Fsnbs28bcDNKP0MUppav0%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGqZC2r66TAxX8tokEHR7IL0gQyecJegQILRBR) and assassins in India who [waylaid](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=ba3676d5b3d949df&sxsrf=ANbL-n7yety22UDaXdi1O0vatqaVL-pDDQ:1774006021925&q=waylaid&si=AL3DRZFEkDaZmmb0xlmPYpZ16WK3Vyez37q99k2j8NifC6dfu1PwU27gbXFDU-grgXKxcorWyrtyzi_qCBNYGwL5fC98i_bSQO5QuOp0R0E6iME-V2hI8Js%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGqZC2r66TAxX8tokEHR7IL0gQyecJegQILRBS) and [strangled](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=ba3676d5b3d949df&sxsrf=ANbL-n7yety22UDaXdi1O0vatqaVL-pDDQ:1774006021925&q=strangled&si=AL3DRZENm3Vb5fKAKJGBSnAO98GGAcxIf0EJIo-6F29_U43c5_3RKvYZnmUVwpyiCX4lS7yaVT5jeOBAYaSDSHqwQsnBm2dlnB4aAp7AaZQ1HjZ4gk3QEGY%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGqZC2r66TAxX8tokEHR7IL0gQyecJegQILRBT) their victims, usually travelers, and stole their belongings. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s. [Oxford Languages] **VANDAL:** Modern meaning: one who willfully or ignorantly destroys, damages, or defaces property belonging to another or to the public Original meaning: a member of a Germanic people who lived in the area south of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula and the Oder rivers, overran Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa in the fourth and fifth centuries a.d., and in 455 sacked Rome. [Merriam-Webster] ---
**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 20, 2026, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/138 "2026-03-20T11:43:45Z")
**PHILISTINE:** Modern meaning, one who does not appreciate culture or the arts. Original meaning, a member of the non-Semitic people who inhabited ancient Philistia. They were the enemy of the Ancient Jews, as noted in the Biblical story of David and Goliath. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/139 "2026-03-20T16:49:16Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > assassins Originally a military order/sect/whatever, not indie killers. ---
**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 20, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414/140 "2026-03-20T17:23:21Z")
**Titchy** : modern meaning: very small. Original meaning: a nickname for a very large man. It originally came from [The Tichbourne Claimant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tichborne_case), a large man who impersonated the deceased heir to a family fortune. Changed to modern meaning after [Little Tich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Tich), a music hall performer. He was a very small man. His stage name was a humorous oxymoron, meaning the same as “tiny giant”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-have-lost-their-original-meanings/113414.md?page=8)