Does this bug you?

[pixiecrinkle]

I keep coming across news stories that use the word "ancient" in a way that I didn't think was correct.

For instance, in this story about trying to identify a skull that may or may not be Mozart's, the following phrase appears:

forensics experts admitted Sunday on national television that they still can't say with certainty whether an ancient skull belonged to the composer, as some believe.


My first gut reaction was "Well, if it's 'ancient' it couldn't be Mozart's because it wasn't quite that long ago that he was around."

So I looked up the definition of "ancient" and it seems that it is acceptable to use it to mean "something really old" whereas I thought it was meant to be used to indicate something specifically at or before what we refer to as Ancient Greece or Rome.

Opinions?? Do I need to let go of this particular grammatical pet peeve?

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I think it's relative. I have some ancient cheese in the fridge.

(No, but seriously: I understand it as being "really old," but with most usage being, say, pre-Christian Era. We have ancient Anasazi sites that aren't 2000 years old, but there's a fuzzy line that I think is more about context to define "ancient." A skull from Mozart's time? Eh, that doesn't quite work for me. Ancient would be 2000+ years old in that context.)

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Heh. On certain mornings, I refer to myself as "ancient."

I think it has more flexible meaning than you suggest. But I could be wrong.

[pixiecrinkle.livejournal.com]

Oh, me too.

I guess it's just one of those words that I feel has a "casual" meaning and a "formal" meaning. Casual, meaning I can use it in an exaggeration to say that I'm ancient, but that it should be used more formally in journalism and the like. I'm probably wrong though. I've been known to be overly critical of word choice before. ;-)

[pixiecrinkle.livejournal.com]

That was my general feeling as well. I referred to a t-shirt as ancient the other day because I bought it about 15 years ago. But, seeing as how that's half my life, it's ancient in the context of my entire clothing buying time span. I wouldn't think an archeologist going through my closet would call it ancient though.

[laurelian.livejournal.com]

I've never related the word 'ancient' specifically to Ancient Greece and Rome, but I agree that it doesn't feel right to refer to a skull as ancient when it's suspected that it was Mozart's skull.

I guess my definition of ancient would be anything of or relating to history prior to 1300 or 1000 A.D. It's sort of an arbitrary time period, I suppose, but when I think about things that happened in say, the 1400's, I don't feel like those things are really ancient. The Renaissance doesn't feel ancient to me, so for something to be ancient to me it has to have happened sometime prior to that.

[futurecfo.livejournal.com]

My biggest grammar pet peeve is when people say "supposably."

[laughingrat.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to hear it in terms of Baroque music, but there's a very respectable ensemble for just that that's called The Academy of Ancient Music, or similar. Go figure. Of course I was equally surprised to learn that Baroque music is considered "early music," so what do I know.

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

Based on the definition here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3A+ancient&btnG=Google+Search

and here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ancient

I think it's a poor use of the word. IMHO, a better wording would be:

forensics experts admitted Sunday on national television that they still can't say with certainty whether an 18th century skull belonged to the composer, as some believe.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My period turns 30 this month.

Ancient and Pet Peeves

[tahn72.livejournal.com]

My favorite pet peeve is 'same difference'. Just bugs me when people use that phrase for some reason. Ancient I agree is likely a poor word choice. I think they could have left the word out completely and everyone would have understood just fine.