It's interesting- with many of these phrases, there is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. With others, like crazy, dictionaries have adpoted the newer use and the medical field has abandoned the older use - meaning, people aren't clinically "crazy," but a dress could have a crazy color pattern, or a plan could be "crazy" and the dictionary would define that as random or bizarre or unrealistic. In the case of lame, as an adjective it also means weak, or feeble - a lame excuse is one that doesn't hold up to scruitiny, and a lame leg is one that doesn't hold up the body effectively.
Language is so organic, and I've fascinated with how meanings change over time - a "geek" used to be a carnival freak that bit the heads off of chickens (and other vulgar acts), and a "dork" was a penis! "Square" used to mean honest, trustworthy, and together, and then the meaning was used in a derogatory sense after WWII. "Schmuck" literally means penis in Yiddish!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-05-13 10:54 pm (UTC)Language is so organic, and I've fascinated with how meanings change over time - a "geek" used to be a carnival freak that bit the heads off of chickens (and other vulgar acts), and a "dork" was a penis! "Square" used to mean honest, trustworthy, and together, and then the meaning was used in a derogatory sense after WWII. "Schmuck" literally means penis in Yiddish!