Dictionary of Lost Meanings
When words stay, but their meaning is lost.
Caveat — I fully understand that this article is coming from, and talking to people of privilege.
I love that language is alive. That it changes and adapts with time and usage. I even like that while it is created by us to give meaning to our reality, it can often then create our reality, when its meanings become normative. This is sometimes good, and sometimes very bad.
So much of feminist theory has grown from the struggle with words and language. It is interesting that while the English language doesn’t use pronouns with all nouns, it has still managed to use the pronouns ‘he/his’ and the suffix ‘man/men’ in a way that excludes women.
However I digress. Sometimes, when language changes we lose something. Especially when there doesn’t seem to be anything that replaces it wholly.
What happened to awe?
It used to be that the word ‘awesome’ signified something lofty. It signified something that invoked ‘awe.’ It is no surprise that the words awe and awesome were regularly used in a religious sense.
‘Awe’ brought with it a sense of wonder, of majesty and unknowingness. It was a big word with a big meaning.
Yet now we use it, often thoughtlessly, as a simple synonym for something ‘good.’ I do it all…
