Seldom used antonyms
Steve B
writing on drug use by adolescents and measures to deal with it, and
she made frequent use of the word "postvention". I suppose it's quite
logical. If it's too late to prevent drug use and even to late to
intervene (why not "intervent"?) then the only option is to deal with
the phenomenon after it has become established. "Postvention" is
probably the best word for it, though a little clumsy in the mouth.
I told her one word I was surprised didn't exist is "retrognosis".
After all, it's much easier to know things looking backwards in time
than to know forwards (prognosis) or sideways (diagnosis). She replied
that the word does exist. If you are diagnosing a present disorder and
if it's what you think it is then it is usually the result of some
earlier condition or factor in the person's environment, then you may
attempt to support your diagnosis by looking at historical records for
evidence of the past factor. That is, again quite logically,
"retrognosis".
The word has no entry in Wikipedia, dictionary.com or the New Oxford
Dictionary of English, and only 500-odd entires turn up in a Google
search. So it hardly qualifes as part of the English language proper.
"Postvention" scores rather better, with an entry in reference.com's
encyclopedia (but not the dictionary) and a "stub" article in
Wikipedia, but still nothing in the paper dictionaries. Both entries
apply it specifically to support of the victim's family after a
suicide, but not to wider situations like drugtaking.
This got me thinking; what other useful opposites of well-known words
either should exist (but don't) or do exist, but are fairly rare and
should be used more?
Having a background in chemistry, I am aware that substances can be
"passivated" (rendered incapable of a reaction they would normally
undergo, as, for example an anti-corrosion treatment).
I am relieved to find "eupeptic" (feeling comfortable, well fed and
good-humoured) as contrasted with "dyspeptic", is a real word, but I
never heard anyone boast of having a "eufunctional" family.
I imagine a dystopian, dysphoric and dyspeptic, mournfully playing his
dysphoniium under the dyscalyptus tree.
Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
that anyone here can think of?
Steve B.
Lawrence D'Oliveiro
> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
> that anyone here can think of?
How about "dysphemism" -- deliberate choice of a rude or unpleasant word for
something.
By the way, the word "ravel" used to mean what "unravel" means now.
Also, there are some interesting ambiguities involving words of the
form "un...able". For instance, in a piece of interactive computer
software, certain actions might be "undoable", meaning they can be undone
if you make a mistake. Or does that mean they can't be done in the first
place? Similarly, computer games may have "unlockable" levels, treasures,
etc that you can unlock once you get to a certain level of skill--or are
those things that can't be locked in the first place?
Nicolaas Hawkins
<l...@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote in
<news:femnu4$fva$1...@lust.ihug.co.nz>:
Are you, perhaps, confusing an antonym
(lockable/unlockable, doable/undoable)
with a negative
(lockable/not lockable, doable/not doable)?
--
Nicolaas.
... Nobody ever got their money's worth out of a tube of Super Glue.
Geopelia
"Nicolaas Hawkins" <grump...@t.large> wrote in message
news:17e9p7i1gbnmk$.dlg@nrph.xnet.nz...
> On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:59:16 +1300, Lawrence D'Oliveiro
> <l...@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote in
> <news:femnu4$fva$1...@lust.ihug.co.nz>:
>
>> In message <t2ktg3t1gs2mrn6iv...@4ax.com>, Steve B wrote:
>>
>>> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
>>> that anyone here can think of?
>>
>> How about "dysphemism" -- deliberate choice of a rude or unpleasant word
>> for
>> something.
>>
>> By the way, the word "ravel" used to mean what "unravel" means now.
"Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care" - there seem to be various
spellings of it.
(Macbeth)
Steve B
>Also, there are some interesting ambiguities involving words of the
>form "un...able".
My favourite word of that kind was the item of medical equipment that
was equipped with "undertable lighting".
My parsing routines must have spent at least a few seconds
unsuccessfully searching for the stem "dert" before they backed up and
analysed "under-table" properly.
Old word puzzle:
"The _____ surgeon was ______ to operate because he had _____."
The three blanks are to be replaced by the same letter sequence,
though the spaces may be different.
Steve B.
BTMO
"Steve B" <> wrote
> My student daughter was talking with me about an assignment she was
> writing on drug use by adolescents and measures to deal with it, and
> she made frequent use of the word "postvention". I suppose it's quite
> logical. If it's too late to prevent drug use and even to late to
> intervene (why not "intervent"?) then the only option is to deal with
> the phenomenon after it has become established. "Postvention" is
> probably the best word for it, though a little clumsy in the mouth.
>
<snip>
> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
> that anyone here can think of?
My girlfriend is doing an assignment at the moment.
She just came across the word "prodome" in one of her readings. It is an
early sign of illness... (cf syndrome)
Lawrence D'Oliveiro
> Old word puzzle:
>
> "The _____ surgeon was ______ to operate because he had _____."
>
> The three blanks are to be replaced by the same letter sequence,
> though the spaces may be different.
"Gur abgnoyr fhetrba jnf abg noyr gb bcrengr orpnhfr ur unq ab gnoyr."
I thought there was a clue in your previous statements. :)
BTMO
"Steve B" <> wrote
> Old word puzzle:
>
> "The _____ surgeon was ______ to operate because he had _____."
>
> The three blanks are to be replaced by the same letter sequence,
> though the spaces may be different.
The noscaplel surgeon was nos calpel to operate because he had no scalpel.
The nomagneticresonanceimaging surgeon was nom agneticresonanceimaging to
operate because he had no magneticresonanceimaging.
The nobed surgeon was nob ed to operate because he had no bed.
Something like that.
I am sure some much smarter person than I will table the correct answer...
Shane
Bloody rot13 spoilers :'(
--
Hardware: n, Parts of a computer that you can kick.
Geopelia
"BTMO" <bt...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:470fd5a1$1...@clear.net.nz...
Sir Christopher Wren was prodome. The old St Pauls didn't have one.
Lawrence D'Oliveiro
> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
> that anyone here can think of?
What's the opposite of an antidote? How about a prodote--the substance that
causes the affliction in the first place? :)
Lawrence D'Oliveiro
> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
> that anyone here can think of?
The opposite of a professional would be ... an antifessional?
BTMO
"Lawrence D'Oliveiro" <> wrote
>> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
>> that anyone here can think of?
>
> The opposite of a professional would be ... an antifessional?
And what is the opposite of antimony??
Lawrence D'Oliveiro
And would it be finance-friendly? :)
Nicolaas Hawkins
<l...@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote in
<news:feph9q$avi$6...@lust.ihug.co.nz>:
Not necessarily. Could be a confessional.
("Forgive me, Father, for I have ...........")
Maybe you should pay a visit to an antistitute and get your rocks on?
--
Nicolaas.
... Are the voices in my head annoying you?
BTMO
"Lawrence D'Oliveiro" <> wrote
>>>> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
>>>> that anyone here can think of?
>>>
>>> The opposite of a professional would be ... an antifessional?
>>
>> And what is the opposite of antimony??
>
> And would it be finance-friendly? :)
Why yes, I suppose it would...
Steve B
"Well up beyond the tropostrata There is a region stark and stellar
Where on a streak of antimatter Lived Dr. Edward Anti-Teller
Remote from Fusion's origin
He lived unguessed and unawares
With all his anti-kith and kin
And kept macassars on his chairs."
Physicist Edward Telelr imagines his anti-matter counterpart.
Steve B.
Steve B
<s.b...@nospam-iecho.co.nz> wrote:
> what other useful opposites of well-known words
>either should exist (but don't) or do exist, but are fairly rare and
>should be used more?
>
In the wake of the local government elections, we have a number of
outcumbent mayors and councillors.
If a future election returns then to office, will they be recumbent?
Steve B.
Brian Dooley
wrote:
>
Miserly.
--
Brian Dooley
Wellington New Zealand
Lawrence D'Oliveiro
> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
> that anyone here can think of?
If a "conspiracy" is a group of people cooperating to plan something
underhand, would a "prospiracy" be a group refusing to do any such thing?
BTMO
"Steve B" <> wrote
>>And what is the opposite of antimony??
>>
> "Well up beyond the tropostrata There is a region stark and stellar
> Where on a streak of antimatter Lived Dr. Edward Anti-Teller
> Remote from Fusion's origin
> He lived unguessed and unawares
> With all his anti-kith and kin
> And kept macassars on his chairs."
>
> Physicist Edward Telelr imagines his anti-matter counterpart.
:-)
He could have almost have managed it...
;-)
Steve B
That's con- meaning "with" or "together" (as in "confidence") not con-
meaning "against". People in a conspiracy "breathe together".
So if you want to disrupt a conspiracy you introduce an
"antispirator", who breathes out when everyone else is breathing in.
Some JF Kennedy assasination theories portray it as a form of
"antispiracy" - a number of interested parties who just happened to
have the same idea on the same day.
I've been wondering (having seen an item on young or anorexic models)
about an antithesis to "callipygian" (having "well-shaped" buttocks or
hips). It ought to be "cacopygian" [that's perhaps too
uncomplimentary], but we also have, from Nabokov, the splendid
"puerile" (boylike, imature). There's a word that's totally shifted
its meaning.
Next time I hear a pleasant piece of music, I shall say "that's very
calliphonous".
"And if the opposite of progress is Congress (see: Gallagher), then
the opposite of conspiracy is prospiracy, not to be confused with a
perspiracy (everything came about through hard work) or prosperacy
(everything worked out great). 'Nobody was involved' would be an
aspiracy -- or maybe that's what one hopes will happen -- or an
anspiracy? Yeah. Antispiracy would mean that whatever came about, it
was through the efforts of everyone working against it happening."
A random posting (dated 2005) on something called catjams.blogspot.com
And no, Google, I did not mean "antipiracy" - I know you've got a lot
on that but it's not what I'm looking for.
"The opposite of progress is Congress"; I like that. But, of course
that's the con-against/con-together confusion. Congress "flocks
together" (see: gregarious). Or it should.
Steve B.
Steve B
<s.b...@nospam-iecho.co.nz> wrote:
>I've been wondering (having seen an item on young or anorexic models)
>about an antithesis to "callipygian" (having "well-shaped" buttocks or
>hips). It ought to be "cacopygian" [that's perhaps too
>uncomplimentary],
Or, going in the opposite direction (too "well rounded") the word is
"steatopygian" - much used in articles about the "fit" of jeans in
different parts of the world.
Steve B
Steve B
<s.b...@nospam-iecho.co.nz> wrote:
>Or, going in the opposite direction (too "well rounded") the word is
>"steatopygian
Or "steatopygous", which gets more Google references, particularly in
association with "jeans".
Steve B..
Geopelia
"Steve B" <s.b...@nospam-iecho.co.nz> wrote in message
news:8hlch3dpb6mq7j2q0...@4ax.com...
Like the Hottentot Venus. See Google Images.
Steve B
<l...@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
>In message <t2ktg3t1gs2mrn6iv...@4ax.com>, Steve B wrote:
>
>> Any other nice rarities or non-existent words that ought to be in use
>> that anyone here can think of?
>
>How about "dysphemism" -- deliberate choice of a rude or unpleasant word for
>something.
I know this is an old thread, but I feel I should record that this
word - or rather the adjective, "dysphemistic" - was used by
"experimental psychologist" Stephen Pinker in a discussion with Kim
Hill last Saturday (October 27) in exactly that sense.
He was discussing the various sociological functions of swearing and
said: you may be the kind of person who normally says "the dog fouled
the grass", but if you're confronting your neighbour over a question
of the neighbour's dog and your lawn, then to emphasise your
displeasure you're more likely to "use the s___ word". This he calls
"dysphemistic swearing".
Like "eupeptic" and "retrognosis" for me, you may think you made the
word up, but if it has a useful function, somewhere, someone's
probably already used it.
Pinker's phrase "the s___ word" was of course, euphemism used to
discuss dysphemism.
The interview should still be on www.radionz.co.nz under the
"Saturday" programme.
Steve B.
Sue Bilstein
Thanks for the heads-up, I like Steve Pinker a lot better than Kim
Hill, so missed the interview.