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Disappearing words.

here in Britain a service station's what we call the 'gas station' and shitty cafe you get at the side of a motorway (freeway). AKA 'motorway services' or 'the services'.

the 'gas station' is usually called 'petrol station' or 'garage' since it's also where you can take your car when you need it repaired.
 
Because most of the words in my original list already have been dismissed by posters in this thread I think I better try to explain myself a little better.

There might indeed still be a lot of CRT monitors in use -but I doubt many are being made and that means degaussing is a word that's (in the process of) disappearing from popular usage.

When I was a kid they were called service stations, then they all went 'self service' and meanwhile the word has completely disappeared from Danish. consider yourself lucky if you still have gas stations that offer full service -they're going the way of the Dodo!

In the (nineteen)seventies and early eighties you couldn't pass a radio-shop without reading "hi-fi" on several posters in the window - today it's pretty much only used by people into electronics and by shops that sell hi-end music reproduction gear.

Tick-tock (as onomatopoeia go, you can spell it in many ways) might still be in use, but how many kids understand why the passing of time can be expressed with this word?

There might indeed still be people with landlines out there (my parents have a 'landline' (actually it's voip) but only because it came free of charge with their internet hook-up :lol: )) and those phones do come with a 'handset', however most people refer to the 'cordless' 'handset' as 'the phone' -and ignore the 'base-station' which is generally referred to as the 'charger'.

I stand by my initial statement that these words either are disappearing or have already gone.

:p
 
^If you went to a store to purchase a phone, you would no doubt ask "Can you show me where the cordless phones are?", if a phone is ringing whether it be cordless or corded you might ask someone "To get the phone."

So you might use the term cordless phone for a specific whilst use the term phone for something more general.

As has been pointed out in the UK the term service station refers specifically to the ones found on Motorways, though that is often shorted simply to services, i.e "I'm at Charnnock Richard Services"
 
I do enjoy seeing words take on new meanings and connotations. I think the gamer/internet community is perhaps the biggest driving force for language change right now. Not only are they usually playing with the newest tech toys first(and hence coining most of the slang for them), but they are usually young and flexible in their use of language as well as being an internationally united group(in their own diverse way). Settled adults with families and careers are rarely going to make changes to their lingo and vocabulary.
 
The slang of a closed group of people does not constitute language change and what you call tech toys seems to be something which doe not enhance but rather damage language skills.

Queer meaning strange is a word I like but like in the case of gay meaning merry people usually associate it first with homosexual than with its original meaning.
 
The slang of a closed group of people does not constitute language change and what you call tech toys seems to be something which doe not enhance but rather damage language skills.

I dislike the rise of "L33T" speak and over overabundance of acronyms and abbreviations on the internet as well. But I think it is a mistake to think that they are necessarily denigrating language skills. We're not speaking the King's English anymore after all, and yet the language is still flexible, effective and perhaps the closest thing to a common language the world has at the moment.

And the slang of whatever group you care to name, provided it works its ways into the mainstream population is where almost all change in language comes from.

"Highspeed", "Squared Away", "Battle Rattle" are all frequently used terms in the US Army. The other day I heard a couple civilians using several of those terms in everyday conversation.

Likewise the way words like "Rape", "Boss", "Camp", "Feeder", "King" and so many others are being used by gamers is starting to slip into the mainstream.

Pick any word in the English language and do an etymological study. Odds are its usage started out with a certain profession or ethnic, or religious, or civic, or some other type of group. Or we stole it from a prior language, who did the same thing before us.
 
Why not? When you constantly shorten and mutilate words and sentences you get used to it and it will inevitably influence your "normal" language.

Let me focus upon the word rape. Correct me if I am wrong but I guess it it used as synonym for defeat. I have two problems with that.
First, rape is horrible and the word we have for it should not have any seconds meaning because that would inevitably change the way we perceive real rape.
Second, using it for something trivial is an insult to rape victims just like the other way around, using a weak word like post traumatic stress disorder instead of a strong word like shell shock (kudos to George Carlin) is an insult to victims of war.
Third, while I am not into computer games I play board games. While I always play to win what matters most is not winning but to meet friends and have a good time. Obviously this is different among computer game players.
 
I'm sort of a prude, so I try to refrain from using words with a sexual connotation in general conversation. But words gradually move in and out of that lexicon continually. "Gay", "Faggot", "Queer"(I wish I could still use that word in place of "Strange" without drawing odd looks), "Fairy" have all moved in. Words like "Rape" and "Virgin" have moved out to include non-sexual meanings. Do I particularly like that? No, but language will evolve regardless of our feelings.

Heck, my Mom(60) still cringes every time I use the word "Sexy" to describe something. To her that word will always relate to sex. To a later generation it is just a tame compliment or accolade having nothing to do with sex.

As to softening words or terms, I don't like it, particularly when it is politically motivated. In the Army for example we were taught to "double tap" targets. Double tap now has a villainous assassin'y connotation due to movies and TV shows. So what did the service do? They banned the term double tap, and told us to use the term "controlled pair".

I think there is an interesting argument that could be made, that we overload our individual English words with too many connotations and different meanings. For example we use the word "Love" to describe all types of love, we stick qualifiers and descriptive words around it to better define it. Some other languages have specific words to describe certain types of love. Which may work better.

As to shortening words and sentences, that is inevitable in a culture that values time and efficiency as much as we do.

I just dabble in etymology so maybe one of our experts can answer this question. Are there any historical examples of a language getting continually more flowery and eloquent over time?
 
Pejorative
Amalgamation - in language where "Portmanteau" has become the popular standard
Palatable
Estranged
Habitual

Anorak - in reference to a geek, or even the jacket!
Stalwart - in reference to a person long associated with an institution
Crony
Jezebel
 
What?! I like all of those words!

But whenever I hear or read the word "pejorative," in my mind I put "Vermithrax" before it. Anyone get the reference?
 
One word that I've noticed disappearing lately is "disappear". I've mostly seen it in the media but it seem like "gone missing" has replaced disappeared or vanished.
 
i know the Daily Mirror loves 'cronies'. they like to label Tory supporters (usually rich tax-dodgers) as Cameron's cronies if they're not calling them other pejorative terms.
 
gay (When did you last hear it used to mean merry or happily excited?)

Last time I did, I got an infraction for trolling.

I remember my teacher in fifth grade or so used the word gay... and we all laughed. He started freaking out... "That was my favorite word.... my favorite word... and and then... THE QUEERS TOOK IT. THE GOD DAMN QUEEEEEEEERS TOOOOOK IT!!" His rage was right at Kirk's "KHAAAAAAN!" level :guffaw:
 
"Queer"(I wish I could still use that word in place of "Strange" without drawing odd looks), "Fairy" have all moved in. Words like "Rape" and "Virgin" have moved out to include non-sexual meanings. Do I particularly like that? No, but language will evolve regardless of our feelings.

You just need the How in front of the Q word.

I'm surprised the Tropic and Starsign Of Cancer has never evolved into something else; its such a depressing word. Yet 1/12 of us are stuck with it.
 
As has been pointed out in the UK the term service station refers specifically to the ones found on Motorways, though that is often shorted simply to services, i.e "I'm at Charnnock Richard Services..."

The almost-inevitable second half of that sentence: "... and I'd rather be anywhere else in the world."

I'm surprised the Tropic and Starsign Of Cancer has never evolved into something else; its such a depressing word. Yet 1/12 of us are stuck with it.

That's nothing. When Virgos are around 13, their schoolmates' jokes write themselves. It's just Taurus-shit... :D

(Yeah, I'm a Virgo...)
 
Most of the words mentioned so far are technology-related. What about some other words? When was the last time you heard of a parent "scolding" a child? Or a person with old-fashioned tastes and values described as "square"? ("Square" in the sense of "honest, trustworthy" is even older.)
dial (what you used to do to make a phone call)
I know plenty of people who still speak of "dialing" a phone number, even though phones haven't had rotary dials for 40 years.

Wireless.

30 or 40 years ago, a wireless was a radio.
In the UK. "Wireless" is, or was, a mainly British usage.

Hell, I know people who still call remote controls for TVs "clickers" and I suspect when we're all using electric cars . . .
NEVER!! They can have my stick-shift Ford Focus when they pry it from my cold, dead hands!

. . . I think someone already mentioned Landlines. As long as they exist and as long as the cordless phone exists, that word will exist.
The use of the term "landline" to describe hard-wired telephone service is fairly recent, isn't it? Before cellphones became common, we didn't need a special term like "landline" because ALL phones were landline phones. Just as we didn't speak of "AM radio" before FM broadcasting began. It was just called "radio."

. . . and the garage is always where you take care for it's annual MOT test.
Which we Yanks call a smog check, or getting your car "smogged."

Let me focus upon the word rape. Correct me if I am wrong but I guess it it used as synonym for defeat. I have two problems with that.
First, rape is horrible and the word we have for it should not have any second meaning because that would inevitably change the way we perceive real rape.
Second, using it for something trivial is an insult to rape victims just like the other way around,
Murder is horrible also. If a nightclub comic gets a lot of laughs and says, "I really killed 'em tonight," is he insulting murder victims? It's all about context.

Pejorative
Amalgamation - in language where "Portmanteau" has become the popular standard
Palatable
Estranged
Habitual

Anorak - in reference to a geek, or even the jacket!
Stalwart - in reference to a person long associated with an institution
Crony
Jezebel
Except for "anorak" (a word I'm only vaguely familiar with), all the words you listed are quite common -- maybe not in the average conversation on the street, but certainly in literature and journalism.

When Virgos are around 13, their schoolmates' jokes write themselves.
"This is Sweet Sue saying good night, reminding all you daddies out there that every girl in my band is a virtuoso. And I intend to keep it that way."
 
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