Call
My husband and I manage an apartment complex, and we are rarely in the office at the same time. Every time I come into or out of the office, I flip over the sign that rests on the windowsill. On one side, it says "Open"; on the other, "Closed. Please call again."
Seeing that sign makes me think about how the usage of the word "call" has changed. Obviously, in this context, it means "come." But nowadays, we usually only use the word "call" in the sense of a telephone, or maybe even to mean yelling or calling out to someone. If we ever said, "I'm going to go call on my friend," to mean "I'm going to go visit my friend," we would probably be laughed at. The only time I ever hear the word "call" in that sense is when I watch Jane Austen movies. It's kind of interesting how words change.
