Does anyone else ever get truly deeply disturbed ( not in the eldritch sense but like upsetting sense?) by how often human language is butchered? I donât mean slang or dialect, I mean saying that held proper meaning being conveyed and perverted to mean the exact opposite of what they once stood for?
Examples of half sayings that lost so much meaning:
- the customers always right: âthe customers always right in matters of tasteâ meaning donât yuck someoneâs yum, not let average customers become abusive
-blood is thicker than water: âthe blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the wombâ the relationships you forge and choose are more important than shared family.
- eye for an eye: âan eye for an eye makes the whole world blindâ meaning youâll reap what you sow and too much karmic action costs everyone something in the end
-Jack of all trades: âa jack of all trades and master of noneâ meaning a little bit of experience across the board but at no point did anything stick enough to allow masterful precision of that activity or field - HOWEVER even this version is altered from the original âjack of all trades but better than a master of noneâ crediting your experiences and ability to pick up from a wide array of experiences and create useful knowledge from them
-imitation is the sincerest form of flattery: great minds think alike: â great minds think alike,but simple minds/fools seldom differâ usually used in a complimentary fashion. But can also mean that perhaps you only agree because neither are capable of deepening the complexity of the thought.
-curiosity killed the cat: âcuriosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it backâ usually used as a scare tactic but truly meaning that the things you may learn can create new life and reignite interest in you
