Ice Tea and Semantic Drift
Word Matters
00:00
The Changes in Meaning and Meaning of the Word "Ludicrous"
A lexicographer's favorite pastime is looking through usage books of say, a hundred years ago. The changes in what is considered correct between that and now are quite astonishing. Samuel Johnson would occasionally refer to words as ludicrous in his usage notes. So it was a usage note, but it was more like jocular than it was dumb.
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