There are many words in the English language that appear to have similar meanings, but this does not mean that they should be used interchangeably. It’s clear enough that both “historic” and “historical” have something to do with history, but their actual definitions and usages are not the same.
You might recall when we discussed the difference between famous and infamous. In short, being “famous” means that the subject (person, place, thing, etc.) is well-known and usually for a “good” reason, whereas being “infamous” means that it is well-known for a bad reason. Tom Cruise is famous, but Joseph Stalin was infamous. Both these terms have to do with being well known, but they have entirely different connotations.
The same can be said about the difference between something being “historic” and something being “historical,” though there isn’t as much of a positive or negative association with these two terms.
Historic = Having Significance in History
Used as an adjective, historic can be used to indicate that a person, place or thing is famous or important in the context of history. It is not necessarily a value judgement, as the subject being described could very well be famous or infamous, but it does indicate a certain level of significance. For example, you might talk about the historic Mayan ruins in Mexico or the historic “I Have a Dream” speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. We tend to see it used in more of a positive or neutral light, but that’s not necessarily the case.
Historical = Related to the Past
Whereas being “historic” indicates a level of influence or importance, being “historical” simply refers to something that happened in the past. It doesn’t need to be important or significant in any real way, but that doesn’t mean that historical things can’t also be historic. For example, the characters in Boardwalk Empire are based on historical figures. They lived during the Prohibition Era, which happened in the past. Some of these figures also happen to be quite historic, like Al Capone and Gaston Means. You can have historical attire, historical decorations and even historical language.
A Proud Moment in Grammar History
In this way, anything (or anyone) that is historic will also be historical, but not all historical things will be all that historic. Historically, a select group of individuals largely controlled the media, but with the historic rise of blogging and social networking, the power has been returned to the people.
Do you have a suggestion for a future Grammar 101 topic? Perhaps it could lead to quite the historic blog post.
Interesting how many Historic’s you could fit into the last paragraph Michael. Although I must disagree slightly with your point. I still believe the mainstream media controls what we really see and hear. The blogging and social media has just redirected the mainstream to use that medium more and to a point take it over.
Even the main blogging and tech information sites are run or owned by major media corporations. So, not much has really changed.