Selective Amnesia

Changed meanings

Words have this amazing tendency to change their purport as time progresses. Or in some cases, through human ingenuity.

If you travel, as I do in parts of Tamil Nadu, you will come across the most amusing, and confusing, usages of words. One such is the changed meaning of the word Private company. A small petrol pump owner in Trichy told us he doesn’t accept credit cards, cause he was a Private dealer (the word private was pronounced privit – like a pivot with an r) and I could try the TVS dealer next door. TVS apparently isn’t a private company.

That reminds me of another phrase whose meaning has changed – that of Make out. I can’t speak or write one sentence using “make out” without inviting either snide looks or cackling, brooding laughter. The phrase meant discern, or understand. But now, I can’t say what I overheard a friend say over the phone. “I can’t really make out…what did you say I ought to do”