So, Google has all those books scanned as part of their big book project. And they've opened up an interesting tool: an ngram viewer.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/
This basically lets you plot how common a word or phrase is over time. I discovered it when I used the term "weedy" and someone didn't understand. Turns out it's something that Steve Rogers might have been called before he was turned into Captain America.
But I digress.
It's a lot of fun to plug words into it and see how they've evolved. Vacillate, for example, has been fairly steady with a slow rise. But vacillated has a big peak in the mid-1800's and has been tapering ever since.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=vacillating%2C+vacillate&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cvacillating%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bvacillating%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BVacillating%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cvacillate%3B%2Cc0
Words that have changed meaning are fun as well. Let's choose "gay". It used to mean happy. Now it means homosexual. There's a big dip in its frequency in the middle of the century, as it became outmoded before changing meaning. It's also falling off.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=gay&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgay%3B%2Cc0
For some reason, NASA had a big spike in the 60's. But moon has been steadily falling for a couple of centuries.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=moon&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cmoon%3B%2Cc0
I could do this all day. Roadster vs sports car?
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=roadster%2C+sports+car&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Croadster%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Csports%20car%3B%2Cc0
Cyberspace isn't as cool as it was in 2000. Interestingly, the term is usually credited to Neuromancer (published in 1984) - so what's with that usage in the late 70's?
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cyberspace&year_start=1970&year_end=2010&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ccyberspace%3B%2Cc0
"Interweb" is really spiking.
Ha! Superchargers are so over. Turbos are in.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=supercharger%2Cturbocharger%2Cturbo&year_start=1800&year_end=2014&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Csupercharger%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cturbocharger%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cturbo%3B%2Cc0
I do predict that nonsense pretend idiot words like interweb and intertubes and derp will definitely be a more recent development. The database does not include the online search data, so that will skew them lower than those who live online might think.
What's up with nerd and geek at the beginning of the 19th century? I know about the older meaning of geek, but nerd?
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=nerd%2Cgeek&year_start=1800&year_end=2014&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnerd%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgeek%3B%2Cc0
Bwaa haa haa! Camaro vs Camero. Turns out Camero is a place. Who knew?
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=camero%2C+camaro&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ccamero%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ccamaro%3B%2Cc0
One more and I'll stop. This is from my friend Eric, "Ottawa" on the forum. I think it illustrates the rise of the American publishing industry.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=colour%2Ccolor&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&direct_url=t4%3B%2Ccolour%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bcolour%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BColour%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Ccolor%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bcolor%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BColor%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCOLOR%3B%2Cc0
Things aren't looking good for Canada:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Canada&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2CCanada%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BCanada%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCANADA%3B%2Cc0
We'd like to go back to that quaint country that nobody really talks about thanks! :p
Nick_Comstock wrote:
Freedom is an interesting one.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=freedom&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfreedom%3B%2Cc0#
Freedom apparently is NOT another word for "nothing left to lose".
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=freedom%2C+nothing+left+to+lose&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfreedom%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cnothing%20left%20to%20lose%3B%2Cc0
Let's zoom in.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=nothing+left+to+lose&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnothing%20left%20to%20lose%3B%2Cc0
I am very happy to see that -o-matic is making a strong comeback.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=-o-matic&year_start=1920&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C-%20o%20-%20matic%3B%2Cc0
It was, but looks like it's crashing again:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=-a-rama&year_start=1920&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C-%20a%20-%20rama%3B%2Cc0
Here's an interesting one, "dystopia:"
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=dystopia&year_start=1870&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdystopia%3B%2Cc0
Edit: related: "panopticon:"
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=panopticon&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cpanopticon%3B%2Cc0
seatbelt and airbag are intersting:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=seat-belt%2C+seatbelt%2Cairbag%2C+air-bag&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1950&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=2&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cseat%20-%20belt%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bseat%20-%20belt%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BSeat%20-%20belt%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BSeat%20-%20Belt%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cseatbelt%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bseatbelt%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BSeatbelt%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BSEATBELT%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cairbag%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bairbag%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BAirbag%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BAIRBAG%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cair%20-%20bag%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bair%20-%20bag%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BAir%20-%20bag%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BAir%20-%20Bag%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BAIR%20-%20BAG%3B%2Cc0
A bunch of climate terms, including a visual busting of the "global cooling used to be a mainstream theory" myth:
big link
Apexcarver wrote:
The words of Curse
Did you correct the words, or did GRM autocorrect the link?
autocorrect, and I corrected it
Vast growth in profanity across the board.
except for the other word for rooster...
Furthermore, I believe that we see some effect of the transition of a word from meaning "donkey" to "hindquarters" and "female dog" to "unpleasant lady", and from "rooster" to "gentleman's sausage"
So it looks like society was at its most polite in the early 60's.
As for the donkey word, I'm pretty sure that Shakespeare was using that one in the modern way.
Phat plummeted around the end of slavery in the United States and has started to make a return since the civil rights era, almost reaching early 1800s levels by 1998.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=phat&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cphat%3B%2Cc0
Curse words that can't be anything else
Looks more like we were unusually polite from the early 1800s to the mid 20th century.
vtec hasn't yet kicked in on the ngram
