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Meanings Change Over Time
Will we call the 2020s the “twenties”?
Communication is difficult. The subtleties of our language can convey more than we intended. Words may mean different things to different people and our choice of words can expose our cultural heritage (“Turtle Island” vs “North America”), political affiliation (“snowflake” vs “gammon”) and professional speciality (“myocardial infarction” vs “heart attack”). They can even reveal where we grew up.
These nuances and even the broad meanings of words can shift over time. Language is constantly changing and evolving. Brexit. Climate emergency. Black Friday. Upskirt. New words and phrases are created all the time and existing words take on new meanings.
Time is always a big driver in language change, but time is about to explicitly make a change to our language. The next year brings with it a new decade, one whose name we’ve already used. The “twenties” currently refers to the 1920s, but in a little over a month that will all change because the natural thing to call the 2020s is also the “twenties”. Of course, we might collectively decide to use a different word for this decade, but it’s not the first time that words have…
