Sunday, November 30, 2014

Words that meant something else in 1832--celebrated, troublesome

The Indians in western North Carolina were frequently troublesome, the aged veterans remembered, and David Fanning was frequently called a celebrated Tory. I finally focused on celebrated enough to see that it meant notorious, but troublesome is still, well, troubling. A whole army of aged men were not indulging in understatement, I am sure, but I don't know yet how far south on the scale of Terrifying Threat I should go. It's hard to hear when the same words don't mean the same thing today.

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