A Small Look At Vocabulary Changes For The Future

 

  As I sit here thinking about changes or the ever-growing evolutionary changes that are rapidly occurring, I can't help but to focus my attention on new vocabulary words and terms that were once used for something, are now used to refer to something altogether very different. Not having a parallel meaning or definition.
It came to my attention, when I opened some mail that I received.

     It was something common that everyone that pays bills, will get in the mail. The letter was was from my cable company. They wanted to inform me that beginning on July/6/2017,  if I exceed  my monthly data plan, they will automatically provide additional Blocks of Data for amounts from $10 per gigabyte (GB) as needed. Which is a fairly new term referring to Internet usage.

      According to the letter, I am allotted 1Terabyte or (TB) of Data per month. Which is fairly more than enough data to last the month and nit go over the limit, for me and my household, that's if its just me and my household that is. If people are piggy backing that kind of raises the bar some. Nevertheless, as I read the letter, my attention was drawn towards the initials (TB)- or terabyte. Why was my initial thought that it wasn't very ago that the initials TB dominantly stood for tuberculosis. 

     You know, the coughing sickness. There is a test for it, that people get when they go to the doctors.  They inject fluid into the forearm of an individual, wait for a few days, then go back to see if there was a reaction in or near the injection site.

     I paused for a brief second and then read the letter aloud to my son. He asked me what was a (TB)? I could only laugh because I did not immediately know how to answer or what to say... Because a few years ago, if he would have asked that question I would have had one answer, now I have two answers to give.

     TB is a potentially serious infectious bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs. It is partly preventable by vaccine. It is treatable by a medical professional. It spreads by airborne droplets. It can last for a few months when treated. It can be fatal if left untreated.

A (TB), as referred to in my cable bill is a unit of information equal to one million million (10 to the 12th power) strictly (2 to the 40th power) bytes of data. 

Now upon reading this I have become a lot wiser. Knowing the meanings of the two TB's is helpful in one many ways. Medically and technologically. I prefer the later...

There are so many more terms that we now use that were once used for something else. You only need read to understand there usages.

If you like what you're reading, please leave a comment below. Have you noticed any new words, phrases, or terms that are used to refer  something totally different today than they were yesterday?