This article is about the current understanding of the word X

For reasons both unimportant and un-interesting relative to this present thought, I found myself looking the definition for Cynicism on wikipedia. It starts with the phrase "This article is about the current understanding of the word cynicism...".

The world would be a teeny-weeny bit better if all definitions of all words/phrases contained a similar preamble - establishing a time point for interpret. Language is not a static thing. It just moves slowly but move it does.

Here is a lovely example: stakeholder. Compare the older usage (from gambling-speak) with the newer usage from management-speak.

Ain't natural language a hoot?