After perusing the blog of my daughter Erin and her husband Phil I got in the mood to ramble a little too.
Peruse, now there is an interesting word. If you ask the average individual, (except Phil who will know this...), they would define the word "peruse" as the act of scanning, skimming over, or quickly reading something. In actuality, it means to "study carefully" which would be the exact opposite of the common interpretation of this word.
Some say that a word's definition is "defined" by it's generally accepted usage and understanding. Perhaps. However, if society as a whole started to call the sky above us "cheese" and continued to do so for a long period of time, maybe centuries, we may assume that our posterity could possibly be staring off into the cheese and dream of flying.
Upon further observation, I have noticed the many definitions have been changed. Things that we had previously defined as evil, wrong or corrupt are now defined as good, right, and praiseworthy.
Heaven forbid if we should disagree with the current definitions and hold to the original version lest a demand for a well-worded formal apology or worse yet a recommendation for therapy be made of us!
Conversely, those things we valued and defined as good, uplifting, and righteous are now under the anti-Webster definition of politically incorrect, wacko, or "red-state".
Think I will take some extra time today to peruse the beautiful cheese.
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2 comments:
Glad to see you're blogging. It's addicting.
So true about how words can morph in meaning over time. A lot of it seems to stem with pop culture and the media. When someone coins the next "catch phrase" that totally contradicts the original meaning. So, I guess what I'm saying is, Peace out Ho! Translation: Talk to you later dad. :)
You taught me that peruse rule in 8th grade. Since then I've embarrassed over 14 teachers and professors who misused it and had the courage to consult the dictionary.
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