When did people saying something “sucks,” and when did it become allowed in polite contexts, such that Kelly Clarkson could write a popular song, “ My life would suck without you.”
I never heard the word "cursive" growing up, but now it is quite common as handwriting and penmanship die out. According to the OED, the word was first used in English in the late 1700s, referring to a few examples of ancient writing. It is the practice of the OED to give at least one example from every century of each word. They list no examples from the twentieth century.
The word “an” is disappearing. More and more often, I hear “a” (whether pronounced “uh” or schwa or long a as in way) before a vowel sound. Examples will follow. Sometimes it is obvious that the speaker is anticipating a noun that begins with a vowel sound and then inserts a consonant-starting adjective, but those cases are very few. uh incentive ay opportunity
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