The world was very different in 1974. In the U.S., Barbra Streisand was at the top of the pop charts, supermarkets had just introduced barcode scanners, and chicken tenders were considered a cutting-edge culinary innovation. Society has evolved a great deal since those days, and that includes the world of etymology. In some cases, the meaning of a word 50 years ago may be completely different from its modern-day definition. Here are a few words whose usage has drastically changed over the last five decades.
The term “tablet” has a centuries-old definition of “a flat slab of stone, clay, or wood, used especially for an inscription.” The English word dates to the 1300s, though ancient civilizations were using tablets long before; it comes from the Latin tabula (with the same meaning). But today, when you say the word “tablet,” you’re likely referring to a “small portable computer,” such as an iPad. This technological meaning can be traced to 2002, when Microsoft unveiled its Windows XP Tablet — the first major product sold explicitly as a tablet. The term has gained wider use throughout the personal computing industry in the two decades since, and is now synonymous with handheld touchscreen computers.
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme” in 1976 to describe a “cultural element or behavioural trait whose transmission… is considered as analogous to the inheritance of a gene.” Essentially, it was used in reference to ideas or cultural behaviors that were passed down from generation to generation, akin to human genetics. But in 1998, amid the rise of internet culture, “meme” came to take on a new, more specific meaning. People used the term to refer to funny images and videos that gained widespread popularity across the internet. Today, “meme” is almost never used in its original context.
“Catfish” was coined in the early 17th century to refer to a type of fish with long barbels around its mouth that look like a cat’s whiskers. The word maintained this sole meaning until the 2000s, when it gained a usage in the world of online dating. The 2010 documentary Catfish popularized the term in the public lexicon. The film followed an individual who developed a fictitious online persona in order to lure someone into a romantic relationship. The term “catfish” reflects the idea of a burgeoning and exciting online romantic relationship, because the species is traditionally used by fishermen to keep other fish alert and engaged. But many people who watched the documentary viewed the act of “catfishing” as deeply off-putting and harmful, and the term developed a highly negative connotation.
In use since the late 1300s, the word “text” has been defined in a multitude of ways. One definition is “written or printed words, typically forming a connected piece of work.” Another meaning refers explicitly to books of Scripture in the Bible, and yet another use is to describe the words of a song. But in the 1990s, “text” became shorthand for “text message,” referring to short, text-based electronic communication. As mobile phones became more common, so did use of the word “text” in this technological context. By 1998, “texting” had become a verb of its own, describing the act of sending electronic text-based messages over the phone.
Telling somebody to “take a chill pill” — i.e., telling them to relax — dates to the 1980s. Yet as far back as the early 15th century, the verb “chill” meant “to grow or become cold.” In 1979, the Sugarhill Gang helped alter that meaning forever with the release of their popular hip-hop track “Rapper’s Delight.” This song featured the lyrics, “Now there’s a time to laugh, a time to cry / A time to live and a time to die / A time to break and a time to chill / To act civilized or act real ill.” The track helped solidify the new meaning of “chill” as the act of calming down and taking it easy.
