We use it every day, but we never learn all there is to know about it, nor do we ever finish mining all the pleasure that can be had with it. Here’s what lanugage yields today—contronyms, found via my favourite social news site, digg.
“The word contronym (also the synonym antagonym) is used to refer to words that, by some freak of language evolution, are their own antonyms. Both contronym and antagonym are neologisms; however, there is no alternative term that is more established in the English language”
Off the top of my head, a lot of phrasl verbs are like this, ie “give out”. The site mentioned above provides the example of “wind up”, meaning “to end” or to “start up” (eg a watch).
Some examples:
- dollop—a large amount vs a small amount
- dust—add fine particles vs remove fine particles
- table—propose (in the UK) vs set aside (in the US)
- strike—hit vs miss (in baseball)
Check out the list here.
Comments 1
Cool—I can’t wait for the confusion I will cause in a meeting one day by requesting that we table an important topic in a room full of Brits. Ah, the complexities of cultural differences! Two countries seperated by a common language.
Posted 17 Apr 2007 at 3:31 pm ¶Post a Comment