Posted by Mike Field on April 05, 2002 at 12:49:51 from 203.26.98.6:
In Reply to: Re: Naughty words posted by Jonathan Labaree on March 28, 2002 at 22:15:24:
,,,,it's through incorrect assumptions like this that the meaning of words can indeed be changed.
I have in mind, in particluar, the word prestigious, which had originally to do with lightness of touch. It was used to describe conjurers and pick-pockets more than anyone else.
But because it sounds like the root of this word ought to be "prestige," the assumption that that is the root has been made by so many people, and the word consequently used as though it meant "having prestige," that now, indeed, that is what it does mean.
A lover of English doesn't know whether to laugh or cry over such a horrible palabregenesis.