Casual chat

I just watched an Instagram video about old gravestones in the New England area of the United States. For some reason, these gravestones listed the cause of the person’s death — not something I’ve ever seen, not something that was ever a custom as far as I was aware.

As the cause of death, one headstone reads “casually killed by a wagon”. That’s an entertaining phrase in current English(!), but at the time “casual” must’ve meant “accidental” or “by chance”.

So I looked it up to confirm and found that that’s actually the original meaning of “casual”! I did not know that.

But here’s the part that blew my mind:

The fairly-common phrase “casual acquaintance” doesn’t (or didn’t originally) describe a current relationship. Rather, it describes how the relationship started: accidentally. 🤯

And a “casual laborer” works when fortune provides a chance at some income. 🤯

Words are so cool. Some gravestones, too, it turns out.

終