Thread: Language Change Index

Everyone knows that language is constantly changing, and usages that may once have been completely out of the question come to be accepted as perfectly correct. One of my favorite books, Garner's Modern American Usage, has a fun feature called the "Language Change Index," which it applies to thousands of usages, spellings, etc., that are somewhere on the spectrum. It has five stages:

Stage 1: Rejected (Such as access misused for excess)
Stage 2: Widely Shunned (Such as alot for a lot)
Stage 3: Widespread but... (Such as antivenom for antivenin) I had no idea! I thought it was antivenom all the way!
Stage 4: Ubiquitous but... (Such as anxious for eager)
Stage 5: Fully accepted (Such as balding, which was a new--and controversial--word in the early 20th century)

Does anyone else have an example of an accepted usage that was once considered incorrect? Or a pet-peeve usage that they disapprove of?

Originally Posted by Will_S

Everyone knows that language is constantly changing, and usages that may once have been completely out of the question come to be accepted as perfectly correct. One of my favorite books, Garner's Modern American Usage, has a fun feature called the "Language Change Index," which it applies to thousands of usages, spellings, etc., that are somewhere on the spectrum. It has five stages:

Stage 1: Rejected (Such as access misused for excess)
Stage 2: Widely Shunned (Such as alot for a lot)
Stage 3: Widespread but... (Such as antivenom for antivenin) I had no idea! I thought it was antivenom all the way!
Stage 4: Ubiquitous but... (Such as anxious for eager)
Stage 5: Fully accepted (Such as balding, which was a new--and controversial--word in the early 20th century)

Does anyone else have an example of an accepted usage that was once considered incorrect? Or a pet-peeve usage that they disapprove of?

Ah, you're opening Pandora's box here. Let's just say lots of people cannot go past stage 2...

But I also thought antivenom was the only option to be honest, lol

What abot "bluyín" lol.

Sure! Great example!

...what does it mean?

I heard that now it is a new accepted word from RAE that is the equipvament of "blue jean."
So you would say in Spanish "Compré un bluyín ayer que es muy barato!"

What about the verb "seroconvert"?

Originally Posted by MirB-Translator

What about the verb "seroconvert"?

Ha! Perfect example of Stage 1 or 2. Give it another decade or so. Or, hopefully, medical miracles will do away with the need for "seroconversion" and "seroconvert" alike. (As it happens, "hopefully" used as a sentence adverb is currently at Stage 4. A few friendless pedants still try to say it´s incorrect, but nobody´s listening to them.)

Originally Posted by Will_S

Ha! Perfect example of Stage 1 or 2. Give it another decade or so. Or, hopefully, medical miracles will do away with the need for "seroconversion" and "seroconvert" alike. (As it happens, "hopefully" used as a sentence adverb is currently at Stage 4. A few friendless pedants still try to say it´s incorrect, but nobody´s listening to them.)

I hope so!

Great remark about "hopefully". I totally agree!