Turn of phrase
Let’s say a word comes into popular use, has a specific meaning, and fades to obscurity. Then, a decade or so later the word resurfaces but the meaning/connotation isn’t the same. Which one is “right?”
If the two instances of the word mean two very disparate things, then perhaps there’s no necessity in examining it at all. Context will make the meaning clear. If the term is simply slang, it also doesn’t require any scrutiny as tone and context will also clue you to it’s meaning (or semantical irrelevance if it’s used as an adjective or exclamation.)
Unfortunately the waters we wade in are usually much muddier than this. The words will be taken up because of an aspect of their previous meaning fits with an aspect of the new meaning. Compared as a whole, the meanings may not seem to describe the same things at all, and indeed many times newer words could be viewed as a corruption of the old. This eventually leads to colloquialisms and dialect forming. There’s nothing wrong with that, but some combination of American ignorance, arrogance, and lazyness tends to make this an actual communication barrier. Lately it seems to be more of a wall instead of the speed bump it should be.
Language is flexible, maybe even fluid. Moving from one region to another different ideas become more important and communication adjusts accordingly. I can’t find any fault in this, but with the prevelance of high speed communication available now the language is being assaulted with more new terms than ever before. Some are quickly adopted, some find niches, some ignored, but there is no consistancy to it. The end result? People might not know what you’re talking about.
People will assume the words you use have the same meanings as the ones they do, which may convey an entirely different message. Down the road they’ll be very surprised that you don’t think the same way they do when you used to–at least in their eyes. The fact is you never did, they just misinterpreted you based on their own prejudices.
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