The Big Bang doesn't mean what it used to

"If there's one hallmark inherent to science, it's that our understanding of how the Universe works is always open to revision in the face of new evidence. Whenever our prevailing picture of reality - including the rules it plays by, the physical contents of a system, and how it evolved from its initial conditions to the present time - gets challenged by new experimental or observational data, we must open our minds to changing our conceptual picture of the cosmos."

"The first time the phrase "the Big Bang" was uttered was over 20 years after the idea was first described. In fact, the term itself comes from one of the theory's greatest detractors: Fred Hoyle, who was a staunch advocate of the rival idea of a Steady-State cosmology. In 1949, he appeared on BBC radio and advocated for what he called the perfect cosmological principle: the notion that the Universe was homogeneous in both space and time,"

Scientific understanding changes when new experimental or observational evidence contradicts prevailing models. The prevailing picture of reality includes the governing rules, the physical contents of a system, and the history from initial conditions to the present. Terminology in science has shifted meaning as empirical knowledge advanced, and scientific language must follow reality rather than fixed prescriptions. Some individuals resist updated definitions, similar to linguistic prescriptivists. The term 'Big Bang' was coined decades after the original idea and originated from Fred Hoyle, a proponent of Steady-State cosmology who promoted the perfect cosmological principle on BBC radio in 1949.

Read at Big Think