Reply #178: Wrong, it is true. [View All]

A basic principle of language change is that language changes have no memory. When the last person who is used to using "gay" to mean "happy" dies that old meaning dies.

The British curse word "bloody" originated as a less-than polite reference to the Virgin Mary's menstrual fluid ("by our Lady's blood"), the original connotation is so forgotten that there are many linguists that question that hypothesis for the origin of the term.

"Fuck" and "shit" are still used as verbs that retain the original meaning in everyday speech, they are not relevant to the processes I'm talking about.

"Suck" and blow" are in an intermediate phase, but most people are still oblivious to the etymology of those verbs when they use them. I use "suck" on a daily basis and have never used to to mean fellatio. Give a couple more generations and the original connotations will be completely forgotten.

I suggest you read "The Stuff of Thought" by Steven Pinker, it has a lot of interesting stuff on the meanings for words.

I think you are giving words far to much power than is warranted. The Infamous Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is considered nonsense, hardly any linguist rakes it seriously any more, and the accuracy of Whorf's claims have been called into question.