Time changes things

Little boys were once called "girls": The shocking past of 12 words

There was a time when thousands of people were "villains," and most young people were "girls." The English language is a living, breathing thing. That’s why describing something as "nice", "terrible", or "artificial" would have meant entirely different things at other points in history. Join us in uncovering the original meanings of these everyday words!

Such a short and straightforward word! How could it ever have had a different meaning? Believe it or not, "girl" didn't always refer specifically to a young female.

Around the 13th century, in Middle English, "girl" or girle was a general term for a child or young person of either sex. It wasn't until the 15th century that "girl" became exclusively associated with any young woman.

Did you guess it? The word "guy" comes from the name Guy Fawkes, the infamous conspirator behind the 1605 attempt to blow up the English Parliament.

Effigies of Fawkes, known as "guys," were burned during the annual Guy Fawkes Day celebrations. Eventually, "guy" came to refer to any oddly dressed or grotesque figure, and later, to any man in general.

Every good story needs a "villain," but this word has humble origins. It comes from the Late Latin word villanus, which meant "farmhand" or "peasant."

As social hierarchies shifted and Medieval city-dwellers sought to distinguish themselves from those living in rural areas, "villain" came to be associated with someone of low social standing, and eventually, with someone who was wicked or evil. Talk about looking down on your neighbors.

"Nice" comes from the 12th century, when the Old French word nice meant "silly" or "foolish." It can be traced further back to the Latin word nescius, meaning "ignorant."

Basically, calling someone "nice" was like saying they were a bit of a dunce. It was only by the 18th century that "nice" had evolved to mean "coy", or "refined", before finally settling on the "agreeable" or "thoughtful" meaning we know today.

The Old Norse word for "happiness" was sæl. Do you see where this is going? Seel was the Old English adaptation of it, which derived into "seely" and eventually "silly." For a long time, before the late 13th century, it meant "blessed" or "joyous."

Over time, it evolved to mean "pious" or "innocent," and then "weak" or "helpless." By the 1570s, its definition had settled on its current meaning of "foolish" or "whimsical."

"Clue" comes from the Greek word kleos, meaning "fame" or "glory." It then entered Old English as "cliewen," which referred to a ball of yarn. Do you see the connection?

Think of the Greek myth of Theseus, who used a ball of yarn to navigate the Labyrinth and slay the Minotaur. When this myth was popularized in England by Chaucer (in the late 1300s), the image of the yarn guiding Theseus out of the maze led to "clue" becoming the term for a hint or a tool that helps solve a problem. The spelling shifted to "clue" in Early Modern English, around the 1500s-1600s.

"Naughty" might bring to mind a mischievous child or a playful prank. But we all know that "naught" means "nothing." Essentially, in Old English, around the 1300s or 1400s, if you were "naughty," you were considered "worthless" or "good for nothing!"

Over time, the meaning softened, shifting to "wicked" or simply "disobedient" or "mischievous."

Today, we may catch ourselves using "terrible" and "lousy" interchangeably. But there was a time when "terrible" meant "awe-inspiring." That’s more closely related to the other meaning of "terrible," which is horrible or frightful.

It comes from the classical Latin word terribilis, used pre-500 AD, more closely related to reverence than to dread.

In Latin, nervosus meant "sinewy" or "vigorous". Initially, it described someone outstandingly strong—but that’s not what we mean today when we say we feel "nervous".

The term as we know it today emerged in the 1700s, describing a state of excitability or anxiety, perhaps because people associated those feelings with a tensing of the muscles and sinews.

Today, the term "artificial" might conjure the image of plastic flowers or even a computer generating Artificial Intelligence. But the word once meant "full of artistic or technical skill".

That is, it was used for creations we would now refer to as art, or even technology: Things crafted by human ingenuity, most often with positive connotations. Its current negative or synthetic connotation developed in more modern times, through the 1700s-1800s.

There was a time when "meat" referred to any kind of solid food. It came from the Old English word mete, which, before the 1100s, could refer to any edible, from a juicy steak to a bowl of porridge.

It wasn't until later that "meat" narrowed its focus to the flesh of animals.

Another Greek origin. Even in Ancient Greece, if you had a myrios of problems, you still had a lot of them. Its meaning was exactly "ten thousand", although it was also used as an expression to mean "indefinitely large."

It later entered the English language in the 1550s, meaning specifically "the number of 10,000."

Facts you didn't know you needed

Is the day longer for your pet? Mind-blowing facts you need to know

Adults often assume they already understand the world, but there’s always something new to surprise us! Did you know that clouds actually have weight? Or that the day is longer for some animals? And that’s just the beginning. From hidden functions of your organs to the true color of the universe, today you’ll learn 10 fascinating facts you probably never thought to ask, but will make you sound impressively smart in your next conversation!

Unlike humans, animals don’t experience a shared "present" in quite the same way. Instead, their sense of time is tied to the rhythms of their own bodies. For very small animals with fast metabolisms like parrots, hamsters, or guinea pigs, time actually seems to pass more slowly. In a sense, they live in slow motion because their faster-working nervous systems allow them to process sensory information at a fast speed.

What if someone commits a crime and tries to blame their identical twin? Have you ever wondered about that? It’s a valid question; after all, identical twins not only look alike, they also share the same DNA. But here’s the surprising part: if investigators check fingerprints, the innocent twin could be cleared. That’s because, despite their nearly identical DNA, twins have unique fingerprints, shaped by subtle genetic and environmental factors in the womb.

You’ve probably spent time lying on the grass, watching clouds drift across the sky. They look light, fluffy, almost like cotton candy, and it’s hard to imagine them as heavy objects. But the truth is surprising: clouds are incredibly heavy. An average cumulus cloud can weigh around 1 million pounds! That impressive weight comes from the billions of tiny water droplets suspended in the air. So, how do they float? It’s because each droplet is extremely small and falls very slowly, while rising warm air currents help keep the cloud suspended above us.

Most of us have a rough image of the world map in our minds. But we have something to tell you: most maps aren’t completely accurate. Because the Earth is a sphere, cartographers have to distort some areas to represent it on a flat surface. On Mercator projection maps, countries near the poles appear much larger than they really are, while countries near the equator look smaller in comparison. For example, Alaska looks about the same size as Brazil, but in reality, Brazil is nearly five times larger!

Most people don’t realize that there’s actually a name for the color of the universe. Strange, right? But it’s true! Astronomers who studied the light from thousands of galaxies discovered that if you blend all the colors from the observable universe, the result is a soft, beige-ish white shade, famously named "Cosmic Latte" in 2002.

With 50 states, there’s no shortage of variety in their names. Almost every letter of the English alphabet appears at least once, except for one: Q, which is completely absent. In addition to this, there’s another surprisingly rare letter: J. While it isn’t entirely missing like Q, it only appears in one state, New Jersey.

Although we don’t notice it, indeed, the Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing. This happens because tidal friction, caused by the Moon’s gravitational pull on our oceans, creates a subtle drag on the planet’s spin. As a result, days are getting longer, but very gradually: by only about 1.7 milliseconds per century.

Do you remember your last dream? Whether good or bad, dreams are a constant part of sleep, but not everyone experiences them in the same way. Deaf people who use sign language in their daily lives often communicate through signs in their dreams, too. Meanwhile, blind people tend to have dreams rich in sounds, smells, and tactile sensations, using these other senses to experience the dream world.

We’re used to seeing hippos covered in mud, splashing in water, or barely peeking above the surface. But here’s a surprise: hippos can’t actually swim! That’s right. Because of their huge, heavy bodies, they don’t float or paddle like most animals. Instead, they walk or run along the riverbed.

Can your brain really "eat" itself? Well, close, but not exactly. There’s a process called phagocytosis, carried out by specialized immune cells in the brain known as microglia. These cells engulf and remove debris, dead cells, and other unwanted material. But don’t worry; it’s safe! The mechanisms exist to protect, repair, and maintain your brain.