“The Latin word for conversation became the English word for the way people talk when nobody important is listening.”
Latin colloquium means 'conversation, conference,' from con- ('together') and loqui ('to speak'). A colloquium was a speaking-together — informal but not necessarily low-status. Roman colloquies could be philosophical discussions or diplomatic meetings. The word described the act of conversing, not the register of speech.
The adjective colloquial appeared in English in the 1750s, meaning 'characteristic of informal spoken language.' The shift is subtle but important: the Latin word named an event (a conversation), while the English word named a quality (how informal speech sounds). 'Colloquial' became a category in grammar books — between formal and slang, the speech of everyday educated people.
Colloquialism — the noun for a colloquial expression — appeared in English by the 1810s. Examples include 'gonna' for 'going to,' 'kinda' for 'kind of,' and 'wanna' for 'want to.' These are not errors. They are the natural sound of spoken English, which operates by different rules than written English. Colloquialisms are writing's record of how speech actually works.
The line between colloquialism and standard English shifts constantly. 'Okay' was once colloquial. Now it is standard in all but the most formal contexts. 'Literally' used as an intensifier ('I literally died') is colloquial now and may be standard in thirty years. Colloquialisms are the waiting room of the dictionary.
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Today
Texting is entirely colloquial. 'lol,' 'brb,' 'tbh' — these are colloquialisms that exist only in writing, which inverts the original definition. Colloquial speech was supposed to be the spoken equivalent. Now it is also a written register, with its own conventions, its own grammar, its own formality scale.
The speaking-together has moved online. The colloquium is now a group chat. The register of speech that nobody monitors is the register where language changes fastest. Every formal usage was once informal. Every rule was once an exception. The waiting room empties into the dictionary, and the next generation calls it standard.
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