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There’s two definitions of the same word both of which predate economics, but the slightly older one mostly died out. “Home economics” was used in the 1950’s t
by Retric 2y ago
There’s two definitions of the same word both of which predate economics, but the slightly older one mostly died out.
“Home economics” was used in the 1950’s to distinguish it from the more common use of the term back then, while economics classes don’t need that clarification. Today few people are aware of the older definition.
- scarmig 2y agoWhen do you think it died out? People have used economical to mean things like affordable or thrifty for a long time.
- Retric 2y agoBy died out I meant the household aspect is gone, the original meaning included things like paying a carpenter to fix your roof which just seems like an alien use of the term. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oeconomicus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oeconomicus Outside any transaction playing a role in the overall economy. I suspect it shifted with the rise of companies and machinery. So I agree people talk about a ships fuel economy they are referring to efficiency, but the non efficiency aspects of the original definition is absent. Meaning people talking about the economy being good because they got a raise isn’t referring to household budgets but the wider economic system.
- dragonwriter 2y ago"economical" is a different word than "economy", and also "affordable" or "thrifty", while a related concept to either the original sense of "economy" in English from the 15th C or the even older Greek root (the two are different) is not either off those simply transformed from a noun to an adjective without other shift of meaning.