Words evolve in mysterious ways and many of them eventually end up meaning the polar opposite of what they used to mean, writes Sue de Groot. Have you ever noticed how the words "polite" and "friendly" are often used in place of "rude" and "hostile"?This is particularly true when it comes to business correspondence. I am constantly receiving "polite requests" and "friendly reminders" that are clearly intended to be anything but polite and friendly.The polite requests are not so much polite requests as insistent demands, and the friendly reminders are no more than imperfectly disguised threats.story_article_left1No more friendly reminders, please. Just say: "I've told you a thousand times already and if I have to tell you again I'm going to slit open your abdomen and skip with your intestines." (This is what my friend Nicki told her 10-year-old son she'd do to him if he apostrophised a non-possessive plural. He said it made him sad. Before you call child services, be assured she'd never do such a thing; she just really cares about grammar.)As Peter Adams (see Readers' Words alongside) has so rightly pointed out, words evolve in mysterious ways and many of them eventually end up meaning the polar opposite of what they used to mean.One of these words is "bully". In the 16th century it meant "sweetheart" and was used to express affection for a lover, child or baby hedgehog. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the meaning of "bully" deteriorated in the 17th century, from "a fine fellow" to a blusterer and a ruffian. In the early 1800s a bully was also the protector of a prostitute, which may be where the brutality set in.Imagine a mother today describing her child as "a dear little bully". That might be a case for the calling of child services. The word retains some traces of its former kindness in the seldom-heard expression "bully for you", which means "good for you, mate" or, in slang parlance, "sweet, bru".Another word that has swung wildly away from its origins is "villain". From the Old French vilain, this was originally a peasant or a farmer. Those who worked the land were not held in particularly high esteem at the time (consider that "yokel", "boor" and "churl" were synonyms of the day), which makes it understandable that villains went from being honest labourers to slinking characters concealing sharp knives and murderous intentions in books and plays.block_quotes_start I wonder how long it will be until the words "friendly" and "polite" receive additional citations? If bullies and villains can turn violent, so can requests and reminders block_quotes_endWe do not protest against the migration of bullies and villains because they moved on to new pastures long before we were born, so there was no reason not to accept them. When it comes to shifts that take place in our own lifetimes, however, we tend to be less tolerant.A word in the process of crossing over to the dark side is "endemic", which means "confined to a localised area", but despite my best efforts and loudest rants is increasingly used in place of "epidemic", as in raging out of control.Endemic has become an epidemic and it is probably time to accept that there is nothing to be done about it. One of these days, the alphabet of lexicographers - whose job is to track the most common and frequent ways in which words are used - will add a new definition to "endemic" in dictionaries.I wonder how long it will be until the words "friendly" and "polite" receive additional citations? If bullies and villains can turn violent, so can requests and reminders.I'd make a plea here for brutal honesty, except I think there is such a thing as gentle honesty. There is no such thing as gentle murder, however, which means there is equally no need to describe every murder as "brutal". This has sadly become as much of an epidemic as endemic...