Is English alive? Yes! A language that is currently in use is alive; only dead languages don't change.
This post will focus on a specific word that has changed over time, including our time. Looking at the changes this word has gone through can help us see that we don't need to be stuck with an old way of using a word if the new way is acceptable and popular. It helps us see that language is alive! The word is...
Low-key
Think about what low-key means to you. When I grew up, if my parents told me to keep something low-key, they meant for me to keep whatever I was doing from getting out of hand. They didn't want me to be loud or disturb the neighbors. They didn't want to hear about it the next day.
Here's the opposite of low-key:
Low-key has expanded to mean other things which we will discuss, but first, let's go back in time a bit.
Dictionary.com says that the word seems to have musical origins and that Charles Dickens used the word low-key in one of his novels entitled "Martin Chuzzlewit." When the character in his book speaks low-key, they are using a lower register that suggests "suppressed indignation."
A reading primer from 1857 called "Introductory Lessons in Reading and Elocution" defines low-key as "the tone of voice that a person uses when speaking softly or whispering" (dictionary.com).
In the 1890s, the definition of low-key expanded to mean "restrained or modest (dictionary.com).
Closer to the present, low-key began to mean something "relaxed or simple" as in "a low-key Friday night" that might involve "pizza and Netflix" (urbandictionary.com).
Low-key can now be used not only to describe nouns but also verbs. "Chance the Rapper" may have helped popularize this usage because one of his songs includes the lyrics, "low-key I rock" (urbandictionary.com).
Low-key can now also be spelled lowkey (no hyphen). It can be "used to describe a speaker's desires or emotions" and can be used to describe something that is not a big deal. It can mean secretly, discretely, slightly, chill, easygoing, or casual (urbandictionary.com).
Examples!
Secretly: I low-key have a crush on Mike.
Discretely: "We needa be lowkey" (urbandictionary.com).
Slightly: I'm low-key looking forward to tonight.
Casual: Want to see each other again sometime?
Yeah, low-key whenever.
So, low-key is a word with multiple meanings that have changed over time, but none of them mean outlandish or going overboard. And if you low-key want to stick with old word usages, keep it on the down-low (low-key)!
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