Then: ‘Catfish’ was coined in the 1690s. It refers to a freshwater fish was probably for the whiskers on its face, or for the purring noise it is said to make when taken from the water. Due to its slight physical resemblance to a cat, the fish is thus named catfish.

Now: These days, ‘catfish’ is used to refer to someone who creates a fictional persona or a fake identity on social networking sites to target a specific victim. A catfish usually fabricates details about his/her life to make him/her believable to his/her victim.

Then: A ‘troll’ is a supernatural being in Nordic mythology and folklore. No recorded sightings of trolls has survived. It is rumoured that a troll is a gigantic being with a foul temper. Nothing like the trolling trolls you see in Frozen.

Now: An (Internet) troll is someone who posts inflammatory comments online with the aim of provoking an emotional response from other users, or to incite problems. In my opinion, a troll has to find ways to utilise his/her time.

(Psst. Notice how the advent of the internet and social networking sites have transformed the meaning of words?)

Then: A child. A young person of either sex. A male child was called a girl. A female child was called a girl. In fact, this seems to be rather consistent across different languages. For instance, Old English gyrele, Swedish gorre, and Norweigian gurre all mean child (of unspecified sex).

Now: 'Girl' has become a gendered term to refer to a female child.

Then: In simple terms, a ‘handsome’ person is someone who possesses having fine form and good-looking features that are agreeable to the eye.

In technical terms: "Handsome is founded upon the notion of proportion, symmetry, as the result of cultivation or work; a handsome figure is strictly one that has been developed by attention to physical laws into the right proportions. " (Century Dictionary, 1895)

In other words, 'handsome' was commonly used to describe women - not just men - as well (in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet was described as handsome).

Now: The adjective ‘handsome’ is primarily used to describe a good-looking man.

Then: Before the 20th century, ‘gay’ meant a few things. To feel gay meant being full of joy and free from worries. To look gay meant looking sumptuous and showy.

In fact, in one of William Wordsworth's wrote, "a poet could not but be gay in such a jocund company" (read Daffodils).

Now: A slang associated with homosexuality.