This isn't just a problem for ancient languages and modern foreign languages. It's a problem for languages you speak fluently. And the implications are a lot bi

This isn't just a problem for ancient languages and modern foreign languages. It's a problem for languages you speak fluently. And the implications are a lot bigger than understanding a joke. Consdier a sentence like "Tim just squealed like a pig low key, actual" [1]. Throw in a few more choice phrases like "L plus ratio", "copium" and "dead ass" and someone from a few yers ago will have issues decoding all that. Many current people will be lost. Words also disappear (eg [2]). Old English is essentially a different language. Middle English can be hars to parse. ~230 years ago the Bill of Rights became part of the US Constitution. The Firs Amendment [3] includes this text: > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ... "Establish" here at that time had a very specific meaning that differs from the current vernacular. This sprung from Britain where the Anglican Church was the Established church. That means it was responsible for registering births, deaths and marriages. Catholics, for example, would often get married twice: once in a Catholic church and a second time in an Anglican ceremony so it was official. The framers here wanted to guard against there being an "official" religion in the nascent United States. All such official institutions were to be civil not religious. Knowing this history makes this language more understandable yet an established religion is not something we in the West have dealt with in some time so the meaning has changed to the more general sense. You can also have this discussion about the phrase "well-regulated militia" with respect to the Second Amendment too but that's a whole other topic. The point remains: language drift has and will affect legal meanings and interpretations. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/DrDisrespectLive/comments/sy26j7/tim_just_squealed_like_a_pig_low_key_bro_actual/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DrDisrespectLive/comments/sy26j7/ti... [2]: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-30-lost-english-words https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-30-lost-english-... [3]: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment