Hilarious Real-Life Example of Words, Phrases Changing Over Time

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We all know that the meaning behind words, phrases, and objects changes over time, right? Well, I must have missed a memo somewhere because I got caught, entirely by accident, by one of those 'changes' this week.

I'm a horse girl, so I've always had a thing for unicorns. But I didn't know that being a 'unicorn' didn't mean being special or rare anymore. Let me explain.

Sunday night I was having dinner at a friend's house and we were talking about relationships. I told him that I was a 'unicorn' and he died laughing. Of course, I was offended because here I am an educated, financially independent woman with her own home, vehicle, great family, friends, etc... And that's when he tells me what being a 'unicorn' means today, and no, it's not a beautiful horse with a horn on its head. I was shocked and then I saw the humor... and then I realized that my 'intro' on my Facebook page literally says 'Rider of Unicorns, Chaser of Dreams!'

Don't worry, it's been changed to 'horses' since then and you might be wondering what he meant by 'unicorn.' He swears up and down he learned about it on TikTok but without going into detail, it's something to do with folks who swing. Is nothing sacred anymore? Heck, they already appropriated garden gnomes, pineapples, and pink flamingos according to my research.

I'm not trying to throw shade here. You do you, or whomever you want, it's not my business. But I'm positively mortified that anyone looking at my social media thought I might be living the 'lifestyle.' Just in case you were wondering, I'm not. I'm just naive. Is there a word or phrase that has caught you unaware? Like fat vs. phat? Let me know! Shoot me an email at erin.bristol@townsquaremedia.com or a 'chat' using our free app!