Our language is changing (but mostly the rare bits)
An article in this week’s Nature argues that the more common a word is, the less likely it is to change over time. Rare words, on the other hand, are far more likely to alter in meaning, pronunciation and spelling.
This is partly because not using them very often means there’s more opportunity for mistakes and misunderstandings. But it’s also because the less you use something, the harder you have to try to make it work when you do pick it up again. A word can get stuck in its own little time warp. A bit like digging out your mum’s old clothes from the 60s – a few adjustments need to be made so it makes sense in the current climate.
Up in the copy studio, we’ve been trying to squeeze the word ‘bumper’ into a piece of product copy for ages. We like the way it sounds, and it reminds us of those massive colouring books your Gran used to buy you when you were little. But that’s exactly why it doesn’t quite fit – because we haven’t heard it genuinely used since the 80s, it sounds like a cheesy 80s word.
All it takes for meanings and perceptions to change like that is for people to keep talking and writing. We don’t even notice we’re doing it, but simmering away under the surface there’s a change going on. It’s what the article referred to as the ‘invisible hand’. And we think that’s pretty exciting.
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