All well and good? That’s fine.

I thought I would pass on some thoughts about change of usage concerning three little words: well, good and fine. The traditional response ...

...to the question, ‘how are you?’ was, “I’m well, thank you.” We used “well” to indicate good health. Over recent years, however, the response to the same question has become, “I’m good.” On the face of it this is puzzling because “good” in relation to people means “well behaved” or indicates moral worth” (a good man). So what do people mean when they reply, “I’m good”? I assume they mean they in are in good health, for which we have a less ambiguous word: “well.” Oh dear.

And “fine” is another word whose usage has been subtly shifting. It is one of those adjectives whose use is traditionally restricted to a response. We could ask the question, “are you okay?” and the answer could be, “yes, I’m fine.” But we don’t put fine in the question, “are you fine?” But recently this is the just what I have heard. Examples: are you fine today? “Will you check my work and tell me if it is fine?”

I offer these points as observations about changes currently in progress, part of the pull and push of tidal language change. It may be that we lose some meanings (good for virtuous, for example) but no doubt we will gain too. Words are capable of acrobatic changes of meaning. The verb “occupy” was a euphemism for sexual intercourse in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and so was not used in polite conversation. This point is noted by William Shakespeare himself in Henry 1V Part 2, in Doll Tearsheet’s tirade:

Captain! thou abominable damned cheater, art thou
not ashamed to be called captain? An captains were
of my mind, they would truncheon you out, for
taking their names upon you before you have earned
them. You a captain! you slave, for what? for
tearing a poor whore's ruff in a bawdy-house? He a
captain! hang him, rogue! he lives upon mouldy
stewed prunes and dried cakes. A captain! God's
light, these villains will make the word as odious
as the word 'occupy;' which was an excellent good
word before it was ill sorted: therefore captains
had need look to 't.

And to end on a satirical note, have you noticed how all the bankers that have ruined British banks are Sir this or Lord the other? How long, I wonder, before calling somebody Sir or Lord will be equivalent to calling them crooks?