You're doing it wrong (and semantic generalization).

Germanic "thing" drawn after the depiction in a relief
of the Column of Marcus Aurelius (Wikimedia Commons).

Most of the time when you hear "You're doing it wrong," it really means "You're not doing it my way."

Just as often, the response to "You're doing it wrong" is pride, and a lack of willingness to learn how to do an old thing a new way.

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Speaking of "things," words go through changes over time and often lose nearly all of their original meaning. The word "thing" in fact is probably the best example of this, called "semantic generalization." Thing originally was an Old English political assembly, akin to congress or parliament, and now means, well, anything.

(I suppose you could say these words don't lose their original meaning so much as include many more. I'm reminded of my own childhood wonder at the color black, which elementary school teachers tell us contains the least amount of color from the visible spectrum. But can't we say that black sort of "soaks up" all the color? If we are talking about photons, then black indeed contains most the light of the visible spectrum, and what's being reflected back into our eyes contains what's left.)

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thing (n.)

Old English þing "meeting, assembly, council, discussion". more >

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Thing (assembly) on Wikipedia >

[2014-07-16]

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