Time

Time changes everything. If someone from two generations ago witnessed the things trending on social networks today, they wouldn't believe their instincts. A few years ago, attitude was portrayed as a bad quality. It was a shame to call someone as a person with a hell lot of attitude. But today, attitude signifies power. It signifies strength. You can see people wearing T-shirts that say "I'm a good person with a bad attitude" or "If attitude could kill, I'd be the deadliest weapon in the world."

I'm not saying that this is wrong. I am just amazed at how time changes it all. It changes the meaning of words. It changes the perception of things. A decade ago, you call someone a bitch, and it would be considered the biggest insult ever. Today, you see people calling each other like "Hey bitch, what's up?" And changes like these often cause misunderstandings too. Someone replies to you "such a cunt" in a playful way. Let's suppose you do not know what 'cunt' means. You google it. It says: Derogatory term for a woman. Considered by many to be the most offensive word in the English language.


You're obviously offended, while the person conversing with you hadn't meant it at all. Let's take another example. There's this channel called 'Superwoman' on Youtube. She's pretty famous. She makes a lot of relatable videos and she's actually quite nice. So I was watching this video of hers called "What Smileys really mean?" or something along the same lines. I was surprised because most of the emojis meant must different to her than how they did to me. Maybe the problem is that, nobody has ever made a hard and fast rule for what those emoticons mean. It just depends on ourselves and our friends how we use them. And the problem arises only when we talk to a person from a totally different country where they're in a totally different society and hence very much different way of perceiving things. One guy online was surprised when I called him 'dude'. I call almost all my friends 'dude' at college. It doesn't make any difference at all. But to him, it really meant something else. Maybe. And I still don't know what it might have been. Well, all that matters here is that we are supposed to be very clear while expressing our views. Often, the wrong message is conveyed, It's way worse than a game of Chinese Whisper.