Small changes in usage

[nancylebov]

From my comment to mindyklasky:

There are usage fads that aren't distinct enough to be slang.

For example, the current use of "traditional" to mean anything more than five years old ("the traditional wireless mouse") is fairly new.

Or there was a while when people kept using "infer" to mean "imply" (I don't think the reverse was common), and then both words fell out of common use.

Does anyone keep conscious track of this stuff?

Comments

[twistedchick]

Yes. The Associated Press Stylebook, and similar.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Unfortunately, the Associated Press Stylebook isn't free online, so I won't be checking to see if it covers my particular fidgets.

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

LJ is acting up today! Your comment isn't showing up on my posting, but I read about it here. Odd...

In any case - you can likely find the AP Style Guide (or other, competing style guides) in the reference department at a library, or in a large bookstore.

(For my purposes, I'm trying to get a "feel of language", whether that's technically "slang" or "usage" or "grammar" or whatever.)

Thanks, by the way, for joining my friends list recently!

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh yes! Check out ADS-L, the discussion list of the American Dialect Society. It is open to all, members or not; it is an American society about dialects, not a society about American dialects; and there is a mix of quite serious language and lexicography discussion and less-serious stuff. (Along with some nuisances, one of whom is I think only the second person I have ever killfiled in about 25 years on the Internet. His initials are T.Z., and if you join the list you will see why soon enough.)