Debate: The silly slip

One the subject of the meaning of words perhaps you could ponder the reversal of the words Presently and Immediately.

Presently means in the present time which should mean Immediately and Immediately is used to mean right away or at once which is now in the present.
So Presently means Now and Immediately means in the middling future.!!!!!Or does it?

Whilst on this subject perhaps we could encorage every journalist and broadcaster to make sure they say "Different from" and "Compare with" because for far to often I hear they only differ to and compare to. Supprisingly it the people that do not use English as their first language that always seem to get it right.

I am interested in what causes the sense of words to change. E.G Silly at one stage meant blesses yet has associations with foolishness. Any one any ideas on changes in sense?

I come from a family fascinated by words and language. And I did English Literature right through my education. But studying and reading various texts written through the centuries, you can see how the English language evolved. It's very fluid, absorbing words from all over the globe. Our country has benefited [on this front, at least] from the 'waves' of migration over time. The main bases of English seem to be Latin, Anglo-Saxon, and French. And new words and meanings are being created all the time. 'Modern English' is now littered with Americanisms, slang, text and News speak, etc....

'American English' is very interesting, because it contains words redundant in 'British English'. The language that the Pilgrim Fathers took over in 1620 was the one Shakespeare would've recognised. Eg: 'faucett' for 'tap'; 'Fall' instead of 'Autumn', 'hood' instead of 'bonnet', etc... 'Australian English' also evolved independently of 'British English'. So emigration is a reason for evolution.