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From: rcb@fortune.UUCP (Robert Binstock)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Confused humans
Message-ID: <3205@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-May-84 12:19:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: fortune.3205
Posted: Wed May  2 12:19:41 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 3-May-84 19:28:59 EDT
References: <2027@ut-sally.UUCP>, <72@mako.UUCP>, <1308@nlm-mcs.ARPA>
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 11

Actually, the tendency for general words to become more specific 
in time is very common in linguistic evolution.  For instance, "girl"
meant a child of EITHER sex in Chaucer's time; "meat" used to mean
all food (as in "One man's meat is another man's poison"); and
liquor used to mean all beverages (as in "nectar, the divine
liquor").

R.C. Binstock