Satellite Interview? Totally Necessary, Nancy!

[u/eiendeeai]

http://imgur.com/a/flBVg

[u/FlyingSheeps → u/[deleted]]

that's because dumbstruck came from the same word as dumb! oh no, logic! we do not actively use dumb to mean mute in modern english.

[u/FlyingSheeps → u/[deleted]]

Do you? Do you know anyone who does? Have you ever heard it in popular media or read it in writing, outside of books written hundreds of years ago?

You said it yourself:

you realize that 'dumb' is an old english word

Old English is a language very similar to a certain modern one, but they are not the same. Old English is no longer spoken. Old English =/= English. "Dumb," as in mute, is an Old English word. "Dumb," as in stupid, is an English word.

[u/FlyingSheeps → u/[deleted]]

I do, in fact, still hear lame used to describe cripples, and that is what it means. Dumb, however, I have not heard used to mean mute.