Shannon's Word Journal

Wanton /ˈwɒntən/
I chose wanton as my first word because I always see it 18th and 19th century literature. From my experience, it means something along the lines of promiscuous or denotes some sort of sexual playfulness. I actually used it incorrectly once and described a bird in a poem as "wantonly" in an English discussion freshman year of high school thinking it simply meant playful.

According to the OED, it can differ in meaning depending on gender (which is interesting):
1. Said of boys, with mixture of sense A. 4; often (after Shakespeare's use) with reference to childish cruelty.
2.  Lascivious, unchaste, lewd. †Also, in milder sense, given to amorous dalliance. Of persons (in early use only for women)

But if you look at the etymology of the word, the connotations weren't always so negative:
Middle English wantowen , < wan- prefix + towen < Old English togen past participle of téon tee v.1 to discipline, train. The word thus literally means ‘undisciplined’; compare untowe(n adj., and the equivalent German ungezogen; also Middle English welitowen well-brought-up.

It's interesting, to me at least, that a word can start meaning something as complementary as "well brought up" but evolve to something as negative as "lascivious."

Here's the OED page I referenced if you want any more information: 
http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/view/Entry/225544?rskey=i62qEq&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid


Rude /rud/
I came across the word "rude" in my reading of the Canterbury Tales last night and the gloss noted a different meaning for rude than we have now, which struck my interest. The line was: "Al were it that mine auncestres weren rude" (ln. 1178, The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale). The gloss notes that rude means "low born" and, after checking the OED, the word appears to have quite a long history and can mean a variety of things:
1. Of low intelligence, slow witted
2. Uncultured, unrefined
3. Unmannerly, uncivil, impolite
These three definitions seem to fit under a similar category of adjectives. Quite possibly, these are adjectives that were typically associated with the medieval lower class and thus allowed the word to evolve into the word it is today.

The word has quite the etymology. In 1426, according to the OED, it meant "strong, robust, vigorous" when describing someone's body. Here's the link to the OED page if you want to see the full word evolution: http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/view/Entry/168501?rskey=rxuG7y&result=3&isAdvanced=false#eid

"Pardon my French"
As a French major, I've always been curious about the phrase's origins and why French is associated with profanity. This may not be the best source but according to Wikipedia, it actually began with English people speaking French in conversation but then apologizing because their listeners may not have understood. The example Wikipedia gave is this:
Bless me, how fat you are grown! - absolutely as round as a ball: - you will soon be as embonpoint (excuse my French) as your poor dear father, the major.

"Embonpoint" is French for 'plumpness'; state of being well-nourished'

Another example of this, according to mentalfloss.com, is people using "je ne sais quoi" in conversation and apologizing for the same reason. This site cites that the phrase originated in the early 1800's.

I find myself nearly speaking French to a lot of my friends but usually catch myself. If I were to say "pardon my French" in conversation, it would probably be for the original reason, not the profanity