I think it’s a modern problem. Bao have traditionally been eaten in soup/stew but a restaurant in Shanghai started calling steamed buns dumplings.
Bao means bag , it’s a reference to filling, but dumpling is a reference to how it’s cooked.
That’s a very American argument. Americans, who use Simplified English, used dictionaries as a political tool in the war of independence and still do
They developed a descriptive dictionary so they can say their usage is just as valid 🙄
but the rest of the world, who use Traditional English, use prescriptive dictionaries so we can have agreed upon meanings and usage.
I can promise you that words changing meaning over time is not an “American Argument”. Nothing to say what you mean by “American” (us, Canada, Argentina?) .
Language has changed all the time, via slang from the poorest, or the slang of the royals and powerful people throughout history.
We don’t say *dyeu anymore, to refer to the sun-god of proto-indo-european times; we say “Zeus”, “deity”, “deva” or “Jupiter” (all come from *dyeu).
So I don’t think the Americans had any say in that. Language and the evolution of language has happened endless times throughout history.
Example from Language Jones
That’s the joy of language and language evolution imo. Anyone ever heard of the great vowel shift haha
Yes. The stuff of dinner table conversation in the family. My mum did her masters degree on Old English and Old Norse. Dad spoke fluent cockney, english and lowland scots depending on context. Tell me about it.
Between 1400 and 1700, English went through a major vowel shift that changed the way words were pronounced. The pronunciation of Middle English long vowels changed into how we pronounce them today/has affected English worldwide, and well as consotant changes (silent letters come from this, knife used have the k pronounced, and this can actually still be heard in German as well. Kneipe (German for pub/bar), for eg, is pronounced with the k).
Example, in Middle English the word “house” was pronounced hu:s “hoos”. With the Great Vowel Shift it changed to haʊs “howse”.
