Earlier quoted context omitted.
Language is a tool for communication, and the great strength of English is that it is defined by consensus. Words shift in meaning.
Which is neither here nor there regarding my original observation, which didn't deny that "words shift in meaning" but called to attention (or to memory) a particular shift in meaning. That said, and being a pedant, I must say that while English (or any language) does indeed change, it doesn't do so by any kind of consensus. People don't stop and give consent to a change in meanings, they roll along with it. There ar…
Oh, come off it. Yes, you carefully phrased it so that your post isn't explicitly criticism, but it's clearly implied.