Update evolutions: words and meanings and the gripe word

   Here we are at the end of 2017, and after 4 years of this wordsandmeanings blog I’m looking back at the evolution of what started out in 2013 as a way to inform about the importance of “words” and the “meanings” of words, but my intention was predicated by  a gripe.

   My gripe about “words” and “meanings” came to a head in 2008 when I lost everything in the real estate bubble.

   I was a REIT investor with the full knowledge that homes all over the US were being sold without any down payment, but I didn’t realize the buyers were hapless people who were taken in by real estate agents with “words” beyond their capacity to comprehend. The buyers failed to examine their mortgage document as to the "meaning” of signing a mortgage with no down payment plus escalating interest.
   These huge interest rates mortgages were resold to big investment banks in the US and to unscrupulous cooperative chain savings banks to sell as REIT investments.

   By drowning the unsuspecting home owners in the US with interest accumulated debt, the US investment banks joined the global investment banks in a repackaged mortgage Armageddon.

   And I took my gripe about wordsandmeanings to blog about recognized “words” with “meanings” that portray an alternate reality.

   We live in an era when every word in the dictionary can evolve into an alternate view.

   And in 2017, gripe is the most recognized “in your face” word that instantly produces a certain notice to everyone.

   However, in the 18^th century gripe referred to the 21^st century instantaneously identified acronym IBS, proof that gastrointestinal ailments were a plague way back when gripe referred to an illness of the human intestines.

   From “grasping something tightly” to “securing the moorings of a boat” the evolution of the word gripe, whether noun or verb, currently takes on the most “common man” meaning.

   For some reason, anyone in a power position in industry or commerce rarely evokes this word gripe, but in private conversation the current colloquial meaning is alive and well.

   In 2017, the political scene is fast evolving regarding use of this ultimate “common man” word, gripe, a populist must, but seldom used by the political establishment POTUS 45 refers to as the swamp.

   There is an indication that in 2017, this “common man” word, gripe is used most frequently in the field of opinion laden journalism, especially online.

   Some might say this is a step back from the most recent 20^th century higher journalism standards regarding word use in articles reported by a New York Times or Washington Post correspondent when the synonym for gripe, the "petty complaint" was used.

   Nevertheless, the evolutionary of “common man” words is a good thing in many ways.

   There is no doubt the influence of the so-called populist agenda wants more of the “tell it as it is” talk, rather than papered over versions.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gripe
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gripe#Synonyms
https://www.etymonline.com/word/gripe
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gripe