The Unexpected Evolution of Language (23 page)

NEW DEFINITION:
sorrowful

The English language has jaded fourteenth-century lords and ladies enduring the world-weariness of ennui to thank for making “sad” … well, sad.

Initially, “sad” meant satisfied, satiated, full, or well-fed. In short, it had all kinds of positive connotations. And it lasted that way from the Old English period well into the Middle English period. For 1,000 years or so, “sad” was happy as a clam.

As “sad” got older, however, people began to focus on the negative side of satisfaction and fulfillment. It would seem that, as Peggy Lee did 700 years later, people began asking, “Is that all there is?”

“Sad” came to mean weary and tired of. If you’re fully satiated, then what’s left to acquire? Ultimately, by the fourteenth century, “sad” lost all connection to its happier days and became a synonym for “sorrowful,” which it remains to this day. How sad!

scamp

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
highwayman; thief

NEW DEFINITION:
impish youngster

In the seventeenth century, as now, “scamper” meant to flee. By the mid-eighteenth century, some dialects adopted the curtailed “scamp” and gave it the definition “to roam.” By the close of the eighteenth century, “scamp” was used to describe a particular sort who roamed: the dreaded highwayman.

Readers of Dickens are familiar with this character. He lay in wait along roads between London and the hinterlands. When a lone carriage filled with travelers appeared, he sprang into action, helping himself to the valuables of the terrified sojourners.

By the turn of the nineteenth century, “scamp” softened and became a nickname for an impish child. Why? Highwaymen largely were creatures of myth by that time. The railroads were one factor. Passengers were on rails as much as they were in carriages. Executions of highwaymen were another. But the most likely reason for the decline of highwaymen was … highway robbery, after a fashion.

England created a series of manned toll roads, which compromised the guerrilla tactics of the highwaymen. Thus, travelers didn’t give their valuables to thieves, but they still parted with cash, giving it to the state. So “scamps” are now simply mischievous youths, like Dennis the Menace or Bart Simpson. They’re not evil; they’re just troublemakers who, deep down inside, have hearts of gold.

scavenger

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
street sweeper; tax collector

NEW DEFINITION:
one who combs through refuse looking for useful items; animals that get sustenance from dead animals

If you’ve ever compared the IRS to a wake of vultures (yes, a group of vultures is called a wake), then you’re not far off the mark.

In its earliest incarnation, a “scavenger” was a street sweeper. His job was to remove refuse from the streets. A few of them may have pocketed items they found as they pushed around their brooms, but that’s not what gave rise to the modern concept of scavenger.

For that, the English language has tax collectors to thank. In London, those tasked by the crown with collecting taxes from foreign merchants were called “scavengers.” They, literally, combed through someone’s earnings and removed a substantial portion. Thus, “scavenger” developed a bad name.

By the sixteenth century, “scavenger” completed its transformation to a mostly pejorative word. Scavengers became people who combed through trash (or visited estate sales) and looked for useful items.

By the seventeenth century, the concept was borrowed for animals such as vultures and buzzards. And by the twentieth century, the word—coming full circle—often was used to refer to tax collectors.

scofflaw

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
one who drinks bootleg or illegal alcohol

NEW DEFINITION:
a habitual law-breaker

“Scofflaw” sounds like an ancient word, like one borrowed from Old English. Nope. The word is less than 100 years old, and it’s one of the few to which the English language can take credit for coinage.

Actually, English must give credit to two people for this word. A 1923 Boston contest asked folks to submit a word meaning “lawless drinker of illegally made or obtained liquor.” (It was during Prohibition, yet many people continued to drink at will.)

Independently of one another (but for the same contest), Henry Dale and Kate Butler coined the word “scofflaw.” The word clearly suggests someone who “scoffs” at “laws” he considers stupid, and violations of Prohibition laws were more commonplace than speeding tickets.

Despite “scofflaw’s” “youth,” the word already has shifted from its original meaning. After Prohibition ended, the word “scofflaw” remained. Today, it’s no longer connected to alcohol, but it still suggests someone who habitually violates laws she considers petty and insignificant. The word isn’t used for serious criminals. Picture, for example, the person whose windshield is a confetti of parking tickets or someone who keeps getting speeding tickets but never stops speeding.

Neologisms

Scofflaw is a neologism of relatively recent vintage. A neologism is a word coined by someone or some group that then passes into everyday language. Often, people don’t know these words began as neologisms. For example:

• “Chortle” is a combination of “chuckle” and “snort” and was coined by author Lewis Carroll in his poem, “The Hunting of the Snark.”
  
• “Catch-22,” which describes a choice with no chance for a positive outcome, was coined by Joseph Heller, and it serves as the title of his best-known novel.
  
• Science fiction author William Gibson is responsible for giving us the word “cyberspace.”
  
• “Gerrymandering,” or rigging political districts to make them benefit one candidate over another, was coined in 1812. It was named for Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry, who used this tactic. The word is a cross between Gerry’s name and salamander, because wags of the day felt the newly created district resembled a salamander.
  

shifty

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
able to manage on one’s own; capable

NEW DEFINITION:
using deceptive, dishonest methods to gain success

Shifty lawyers. Shifty bankers. Shifty used car salesmen. Today, those descriptions are insulting. But if you were living in the mid-sixteenth century (and replaced “car” with “cart”), then you would have been complimenting these folks. You would have, in effect, been saying that these are lawyers/bankers/cart salesmen who are capable, who get the job done, and who are responsible and self-motivating.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, “shifty” began to refer almost exclusively to those who would use any means necessary to get ahead.

This shift in “shifty” makes sense. If someone is capable and resourceful, then he will be successful. Sometimes, though, no amount of hard work will lead to success. That’s when people “do what they gotta do” to create an anticipated result. In the grand march of life, many have withheld evidence, fudged numbers, or rolled back odometers instead of attaining success through sheer hard work.

The Making of Makeshift

The word “makeshift” came along after “shifty” had completed its negative transformation. At first, it denoted a rogue. Later, it came to describe something put together as a temporary fix.

shrew

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
an evil, spiteful person of either gender

NEW DEFINITION:
an evil, spiteful woman

The most famous of all shrews is Katherina Minola. She’s a spitfire, not one to take crap from anyone … especially from men. She meets her match in Petruchio, who ultimately “tames” her into a pleasant, docile bride. Since its earliest performances, not everyone has believed “all’s well that ends well” in Shakespeare’s misogynistic
The Taming of the Shrew
.

Two things are clear. For one, “shrew” referred specifically to women by the late sixteenth century, when Shakespeare wrote that play. Originally, it referred to a spiteful person of either sex. And for another, the word is, in fact, based on beliefs about shrews, as in the nocturnal rodents.

Shrews—the animals—were believed to be particularly nasty critters, and there is some truth to the accusation. For one thing, some shrews have a poisonous bite. For another, these are extremely territorial animals that will stop at nothing to drive off rival shrews. They join up with other shrews only to mate and then go back to hating one another.

One thing is
not
clear. Why did “shrew” stop referring to both men
and
women? Most likely it hearkens back to the same misogyny that helped birth Shakespeare’s play, once considered a comedy, now often considered insulting to women.

For centuries, men dominated most cultures. They certainly weren’t going to allow anyone to refer to
them
as “shrews.” Thus, they palmed off the word onto women. Men sometimes are admired for not taking crap, yet many (unflattering) words exist to describe women who do the same.

silly

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
helpless; weak; unsophisticated

NEW DEFINITION:
foolish; lacking good sense

“Silly,” like “villain” or “clown” (see entries for “clown” and “villain”), is a word that comes to its modern meaning via class warfare, medieval style. Basically, “villain” used to refer to “villagers,” whom many thought guilty of all sorts of miscreant (see entry for “miscreant”) and perverted behavior. Villains were the Middle Ages’s version of rednecks.

“Silly” carries a similar suggestion. The word has changed quite a bit during its lifetime, but for most who lived in the Middle Ages, the word suggested the “helpless” and “unsophisticated.” It was used to describe hayseeds who might come into town and be completely bemused (see entry for “amuse”) by all the newfangled sights.

People who lived out in the country and didn’t have what passed for modern conveniences circa 1550 were called “silly.” People who were content to live their lives without having a steady job were called “silly.” Ultimately, “silly” came to mean “feeble-minded.” The thinking went something like this: “Surely these people who don’t contribute to society aren’t normal. They must be pitied because they’re not right in the head.”