Sense file
How the sense moved
The archive follows the dated record first, then reads the social or rhetorical pressure that hardened, softened, narrowed, or reversed the word.
Older meaning
Common, ordinary, or belonging to the people at large.
Modern meaning
Crude, coarse, or offensively unrefined.
Research lens
A sharp example of how the public or ordinary can be recast as tasteless once status contempt takes over.
Meaning trail
Root
common or public
The word first named shared social ground, not bad taste.
Older sense
ordinary people or everyday language
Common use was the defining feature.
Now
coarse or crude
Status contempt darkened the public into the indecorous.