Language is Alive

It is fascinating to see how language can change, both as a person who uses language and as an editor who works with language. Things that were once grossly incorrect are now perfectly normal, and vice versa. New words are being invented, old ones are dying, and other old words are changing their meaning.

The internet has vastly changed how people view language. Now, we can say whatever we like and have people see it across the world. It's also super easy to say anything and send it off without another thought, regardless of how incorrect it may be. People usually don't put a lot of effort into proofreading their memes. And that's fine! The internet is a place where people can express themselves in any way they want.

This, of course, has not changed the fact that language changes over time. If anything, it accelerates that change as more people can see and adopt a word more quickly than before. One word that I've seen change over my lifetime is the word "cringe."

When I first learned the word, it meant the action of cringing, either internally or away from something. But as time passed, people began to use it as an adjective as well. This is especially interesting to me because there is already an adjective for that purpose, "cringey." I'm not sure whether it evolved from people leaving off the "y" or from people using the noun form as an adjective. Either way, it's not accepted by everyone. Lots of people resent the misuse of the word. Though given how words change their meaning so frequently, I wonder how long it takes for a misuse of a word to become the actual use of the word.

In any case, this idea is something that an editor ought to be aware of. You have to stay at least somewhat up to date with linguistic changes, or you may correct something incorrectly.

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