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I grew up understanding that random meant "occurring unpredictably or without pattern." But recently I've heard my daughter-in-law use it to mean "weird," "strange," "eerie." She took a little umbrage when my son ragged on her about it. Then I THINK I heard someone else use it the same way, and I'm wondering if common usage is giving it a new meaning. After all, words do evolve; I also grew up thinking that the "Gay Nineties" was a happy, carefree period, not a period of rampant homosexuality…
There is a Disney show called "So Random." The possible new definition you mention could make more sense in the title than the traditional definition of random.
I work with Random Number Generators on a regular basis, so my brain is firmly fixed on the traditional meaning. Strange to think that someone much younger may hear that term and wonder why you want to generate weird numbers. And exactly which numbers are the weird ones?
kerrymiller said:
I grew up understanding that random meant "occurring unpredictably or without pattern." But recently I've heard my daughter-in-law use it to mean "weird," "strange," "eerie." She took a little umbrage when my son ragged on her about it. Then I THINK I heard someone else use it the same way, and I'm wondering if common usage is giving it a new meaning.
Now that you mention it, I have heard the word random being used in this way. Perhaps one of the cross-over uses is in the phrase random behavior. When something (or someone) behaves in a random way, it can appear very odd, offbeat, thoughtless, and possibly threatening. I can see where the otherwise neutral word might take on a significant negative color.
A Google search shows about 750,000 hits on the phrase "He's so random." and another 600,000 plus for "She's so random." Such a predicative use of the word random as applied to a person means that this word almost certainly has shifted in a significant way, at least for some segment of the population.
I will nod to the new use without adopting it, but I wonder if it is a passing slang, or a permanent shift.
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