Language is alive. It breathes, it gets sick, and sometimes it just gets lazy. If you’ve ever looked at an old letter from the 1800s and felt like you were reading a foreign language, you aren’t alone. The way we talk is shifting faster than ever. Honestly, the usage of words over time isn't just a boring academic topic for linguists to argue about over tea—it's a mirror of how our brains are changing in a digital-first world.
We used to write with a certain density. Now? We tweet. We text. We use "lol" as a punctuation mark.
The Great Simplification
Have you noticed how books seem easier to read than they used to? It isn’t your imagination. Researchers from the University of Arizona and other institutions have tracked the linguistic complexity of literature over centuries. They found a steady decline in sentence length and the sophistication of vocabulary. It’s called "linguistic compression." Essentially, we’re stripping away the fluff.
Look at the Google Ngram Viewer. It’s a tool that lets you track the usage of words over time across millions of digitized books. If you plug in a word like "shall," you see a steep cliff. It’s dying. Compare that to "get" or "do." These are "utility words"—short, punchy, and multipurpose. They are taking over.
We are moving toward a more functional language. It's efficient. But is it better?
Language used to be a status symbol. If you could navigate a complex subordinate clause, you were educated. Today, if you write a 50-word sentence, people just stop reading. They skim. They look for the bold text. Our collective attention span is essentially a sieve, and our vocabulary has adapted to fit through the holes.
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Why Some Words Die While Others Just Pivot
Words don't always disappear; they just change jobs. Take the word "silly." In the 14th century, it meant "blessed" or "pious." Then it shifted to mean "innocent," then "feeble," and eventually "foolish." This is called semantic drift.
But why does it happen?
Usually, it's because of cultural friction. A word gets used as a metaphor so often that the metaphor becomes the literal meaning. Think about the word "literally." People get so worked up about its "incorrect" usage to mean "figuratively." But that's just how the usage of words over time works. When a large enough group of people "misuse" a word for a long enough time, the dictionary eventually gives up and changes the definition.
The Tech Takeover
Technology is the biggest driver of language change since the printing press. Before the internet, new words took decades to spread. They moved through books, newspapers, and radio. Now, a slang term can be born on a subreddit in the morning and be used by a news anchor in London by the evening.
- Acronyms as words: "NASA" was always an acronym, but "ghosting" or "DMing" are entirely new functional verbs born from tech interfaces.
- Verbification: We "Google" things. We "Uber" home. We "Zoom" into meetings. We take a brand or a noun and force it to do the work of an action.
- Emoji integration: We are unironically moving back toward hieroglyphics. An emoji can replace a three-word sentence. It conveys tone that text often misses.
The Data Behind the Talk
If you look at the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, you’ll see that the gap between how we talk and how we write is closing. In the past, "formal writing" was a distinct dialect. You wouldn't write like you spoke. Now, because of email and Slack, we write exactly like we speak. This has led to the "informalization" of the English language.
Some people call this the "dumbing down" of society. Linguists like John McWhorter see it differently. He argues that texting isn't "writing" at all—it's "fingered speech." It’s a new way of talking that just happens to use a keyboard. When we look at the usage of words over time, we have to account for the fact that we are producing more written text than any generation in human history.
Quantity doesn't always mean quality.
Survival of the Shortest
Zipf’s Law is a weird mathematical phenomenon in linguistics. It states that the most frequent word in a language will occur approximately twice as often as the second most frequent word, three times as often as the third, and so on. In English, the most common word is "the."
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As we communicate faster, Zipf’s Law becomes even more aggressive. We gravitate toward the shortest, easiest words to minimize "articulatory effort." Basically, we’re linguistically lazy. If a word has four syllables but a two-syllable version exists, the shorter one wins almost every time.
Think about "refrigerator" versus "fridge." Or "television" versus "TV."
How to Track Your Own Language Use
It’s easy to feel like a passive observer in all this, but you’re actually a participant. Every time you choose a word, you’re voting on the future of the English language. If you want to see how your own usage of words over time has evolved, there are ways to do it.
- Search your sent emails: Look for words you used ten years ago that feel "cringe" now.
- Check your "most used" emojis: They tell a story of your emotional vocabulary that words might be missing.
- Use the Google Ngram Viewer: It’s free. Search for your favorite slang or professional jargon. You'll see exactly when it peaked and if it's currently on life support.
Insights for the Modern Communicator
Understanding how words change isn't just for trivia night. It's a competitive advantage in business and life. If you’re still using corporate jargon from 2010, you sound dated. If you’re trying too hard to use Gen Z slang, you sound "sus" (as the kids would say, though they’re probably onto a new word by the time you read this).
The goal isn't to fight the change. You can’t stop the tide. The goal is to be intentional.
Audit your vocabulary. Stop using "very" and "really" as crutches. These are "empty" words that have increased in usage because they require zero thought. Replace them with specific adjectives.
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Read old books. Seriously. It’s like cross-training for your brain. It forces you to engage with a different pace of thought and a denser usage of words over time. It prevents your vocabulary from shrinking into a tiny box of digital convenience.
Watch for the "Great Reshuffle." Every few years, certain words become "toxic" or "cliché." In the business world, "synergy" became a joke. "Pivot" is getting there. Pay attention to the words that make people roll their eyes. Those are the ones on their way out.
Language is the only tool we have to share the inside of our heads with someone else. Don't let your toolset get rusty just because it's easier to use a hammer for everything. Use the right word, even if it’s an old one. Or a new one. Just make sure it’s yours.