Funny how words and phrases can shift on you.
Merriam-Webster dates the term "new wave" to 1960. They don't seem to have a reason to lie about that. For now I'm not going to go into the question of when Merriam does have reason to lie about something. But assuming this point of etymology to be accurate, the phrase dates to the time of the French Nouvelle Vague, i.e. Truffaut, Godard, etc.
Then there's new wave music. New wave rock became a current term in 1977 when it became apparent that punk itself wasn't going to make commercial inroads, at least not in America. It remained in use until about halfway through the 80s. Not necessarily referring to the same thing, though. I love Talking Heads and Elvis Costello. Duran Duran and A Flock of Seagulls are also fun. But the latter two were not doing what the former two did. The culture had changed, with language hard pressed to catch up.
"New wave" was used up to 1984 to describe new music. After that it faded out. But currently a lot of people assume that any popular music from the decade that wasn't rap, hair metal, or heartland rock must be new wave. Time monkeys with words and concepts too.
2 comments:
That was an excellent overview of the term 'new wave'. Another that comes to mind is the historical background of 'new age' - a wiki search can provide some entertaining diversion.
I've definitely had thoughts about how words and phrases have changed their common meanings over the years, many that are funny when considered in context:
How about 'Let's wear our thongs to the beach!' - say no more.
Or 'text' which used to be a noun and now it's a verb, which also means message, which is also a verb'.
'Sick' and 'ill' - both of which used to mean infirm, but now mean good.
'Computer' and 'calculator' are words that used to refer to people.
Back to your original point about 'New Wave' having been redefined over the course of a century. It's true. Many terms have been simplified as they've been popularized but I think for a number of people the added meanings may enhance their sense of how language changes over time - like it or not. As you said, 'Time monkeys with words and concepts too'.
Wikipedia does have an extensive article on New Age, tracing it back in part to Helena Blavatsky and Carl Jung. (They use a young picture of Jung, who despite his name didn't really look like himself until he got older.) The actual term "New Age" got a lot more popular at the start of the nineties, which is when it seems like they figured out how to market that sort of thing.
In the early days of cell phone ubiquity users would talk about sending a text message. Gradually it became "sending a text" or just "texting." That's a pretty natural evolution given the way people talk in general.
Programs like Alexa are sold as "personal assistants" so that phrase is at least partly down the same road as "calculator" and "computer." Guess that one has a double meaning.
New Wave is an example of a word or phrase that's been kept in place despite the conditions that gave rise to it changing a good deal. As a result the language starts meaning something different, sometimes without anyone taking note. Sort of related to the fact that for the past 50 odd years every scandal no matter how huge or petty has had "-gate" suffixed to the end of it.
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