What new word have you learned recently?

Today I learned a new word: multihyphenate:

What is multi-hyphenate?

Meaning of multi-hyphenate in English. someone who does several different jobs, especially in the entertainment industry: Timberlake has continued his growth as a full-fledged, multi-hyphenate: singer/film actor/comedy-sketch player and record-label mogul.

It’s not a new word, per se, but a word misunderstood and misused. That word is “Ignorant”.

Ignorant means, basically, “a lack of information”.

I was taught this at a young age, it was one of those things I never forgot, kind of like “alot” is not a word, it’s “a lot”. Anyway…

I have stated or claimed someone was ignorant, or their argument was ignorant, and they took great offense. There is nothing wrong with this word, it’s just a statement that someone’s claim or statement lacks the information to be true or false.

We are ALL ignorant about something. No one knows it all (sorry people on Twitter). Thought I would bring this up, because it has happened so many times people had no idea it isn’t an insult. When I hear a “new” word… I look forward to bringing here.

That’s true @Bones, however, with language becoming more liquid as time passes, many words’ meanings and usages change as well. What I used to enjoy was researching the roots of words I learned, and found out that what I learned about a word usually was much different than currently believed.

Another word that is used differently today than it used be is “gay” which used to mean lighthearted and carefree, however, over time it became “dated” and moved down the line in its description. Now it means sexually or romantically attracted exclusively to people of one’s own sex or gender (used especially of a man).

Same thing with swear words between countries. What is not considered a swear word in America is definitely one in the UK. Bloody is a swear word that many people in the UK find offensive which is used to emphasize a comment or an angry statement.

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Bloody

mid 17th century: from bloody The use of bloody to add emphasis to an expression is of uncertain origin, but is thought to have a connection with the ‘bloods’ (aristocratic rowdies) of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; hence the phrase bloody drunk (= as drunk as a blood) meant ‘very drunk indeed’. After the mid 18th century until quite recently bloody used as a swear word was regarded as unprintable, probably from the mistaken belief that it implied a blasphemous reference to the blood of Christ, or that the word was an alteration of ‘by Our Lady’; hence a widespread caution in using the term even in phrases, such as bloody battle, merely referring to bloodshed.

nowadays bloody usage is as an adjective : he had a bloody nose,

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Yes, words’ meanings tend to migrate quite a bit.

Also, not a new word for me, but one that lately been overused incorrectly is “Indefinitely”. Not sure if it is a migrated word as Lyn pointed out or more (in my opinion) the ignorance that Bones mentioned. Indefinite means an undefined or vague length of time (could be millennia or nanoseconds or something between), but most people including everyone on news programs, social media blogs and streams, and even movies and TV shows use it as “never ending” or Infinite (which is a word that could be used instead, except for that dastardly ignorance thingy).

I think those media folks really do not have a solid grasp on the use of language but tend to use the current slang that is being bunted about. They will change that word as the slang changes although they will use the slang in place of the correct word necessary for their opinions and reports.

I had a 6 week class in college taught by an English language linguistic specialist and it was eye opening to say the least. I heard so many iterations of the same word or phrases for weeks as the students practiced their knowledge. :face_with_spiral_eyes:

All I can say to that is…
Unprecedented!

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What’s even funnier is the way a well educated person with a solid grasp of the language can insult someone without saying a negative, or obscene word to accomplish it. During that class that instructor actually spent one day’s class time going over that very subject.

She was so adept at her usage that the person she had as her voluntary subject did not even know they were being insulted. The entire class was dumbfounded because of how well she was able to do it. I know I was impressed, because my mom was very good at that as well.

I grew up with that happening all the time at home. My mom was an Australian war bride and her use of English was on a different level than what I was learning in school growing up in Hawai’i. I can’t even begin to count the many times she would march down to the school to “correct” the teacher who was teaching her child the wrong words, not to mention all spelled incorrectly. :rofl: :joy:

Spanish word “Otra Vez” = again, or once more. What it means is run of the mill, but it looks and sound cool to me. Hehe.

Apart from learning a Spanish word, I’ve learned (well, already knew) I am terrible at language. Even English apparently, as when I am looking for explanations of Spanish words some of the people will try to explain by talking about verbs, conjugations, adjective gender and pluralization, etc. Apparently I didn’t learn high school English very well as I don’t recall what most of that means. Haven’t needed them for decades, but now some may be helpful in learning Spanish. This is just one of the issues I’m having with it, but I’ll leave others for another day. I really don’t know how people learn a non-native language. As I struggle with the very basics of Spanish, it makes me realize knowing a 2nd language is quite an accomplishment and I’m impressed with those of you that do.