Words...interesting...

[ianuk]

How words change definition is very interesting or how words can have wildly different definitions is very fascinating to me. Here is an interesting one. I've bolded the definitions that seem very, very juxtaposed. From Merriam-Webster Online

Main Entry: 1jar·gon
Pronunciation: \ˈjär-gən, -ˌgän\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French jargun, gargon
Date: 14th century

1 a : confused unintelligible language b : a strange, outlandish, or barbarous language or dialect c : a hybrid language or dialect simplified in vocabulary and grammar and used for communication between peoples of different speech
2 : the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group
3 : obscure and often pretentious language marked by circumlocutions and long words

— jar·gony \-gə-nē, -ˌgä-nē\ adjective

Comments

[snotblossom.livejournal.com]

Technical terminology and the characteristic idiom of a special activity or group IS confused and unintelligible to the unintiated, which is probably how it came to be referred to as jargon in the first place.