Once upon a time, there was a conversation. One person pontificated, somewhat ironically, that she was a taker, not a giver. She attempted to clarify her statement by saying that her sister was a caregiver, and she a caretaker. Hilarity ensued, as hilarity is wont to do.
Time passed, as time is also wont to do.
There was then another conversation, wherein this tale was told to the purveyor of a certain blog, and all present recognized the blogworthiness of the anecdote.
Brains were racked for any other example of a pair of antonyms (giver-taker) which, by the addition of a prefix, suffix, or compounding word (care), became a pair of synonyms. The best pair that could be found was "sinkhole" and "swimming hole", which are not actually synonyms, but certainly are much more similar than "sink" and "swim."
And so we ask you, o faithful readers, our muses, we beseech thee tell us, is this an example of a class of words, either of antonyms or of synonymizing augmenters, or is this a random linguistic accident of the sort produced by thousands of monkeys with thousands of typewriters?
Thanks to Tali for the idea, and for your forbearance as we take artistic liberties with the tale.
8 comments:
Well, for starters, there's always "fat" and "slim", which when augmented with "chance", become synonyms. The problem with this vein is that "fat chance" is usually said in a sarcastic tone, so I don't think it should count... I'll think further later.
Well, first, I think it's great that Keith will think further later. I'm glad he's gotten in the habit of it now ;-).
Next, I think it's very artificially constraining of him to eliminate sarcastic comments from consideration. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, half of all modern conversation consists of sarcastic comments.
Finally, I think a better question to ponder is words that are their *own* antonyms. But to be fair, I probably only think that because I know some of those off the top of my head and can't think of any answers to your conundrum.
How's that for honesty?
There is a class of words that are antonyms of themselves: autoantonyms. Cf. http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_autoantonyms.html
There are a few not on this list. Tutelage, for example.
I only had a chance to glance quickly over David's list of "autoantonyms," but it's certainly a larger list of words than I was aware of (though that might be praising with faint damn as it were...). Apart from a minor quibble with having to use words as different parts of speech to get the autoantonymic function, the only real problem I see is "quantum leap."
A "quantum leap" is simply one that's discontinuous, a mathematical step function, as it were. (And as a leap is inherently discontinuous, "quantum" in this phrase is simply an intensifier, actually.) It does not require that the step be large; it's purely the implication of the "leap" and not the "quantum" that leads to that common mis-conception. For instance, a "quantum step" would be exactly the same use of "quantum" as a "quantum leap," yet it would (presumably) not have the connotation of being large-sized.
Normally, I wouldn't stoop to the level of personally attacking fellow posters, who's posts may or may not contain more than their fair share of sarcasm.
To *quote* (because I have a better memory and thus need not stoop to paraphrasing) John Knowles' "A Separate Peace", Sarcasm is "the protest of people who are weak."
Also, I tend to avoid indefinite references like that one in that first paragraph there. To which habit might Dwight be referring? Who knows?
As for myself, procrastination is a tool I've used often and well to shoot myself in the foot, thank you. ;-)
Back to the original topic, how about "couldn't" and "could" suffixed with "care less"? Both are synonymous with "don't care".
And here's an admittedly weak example:
"soon" and "later", with "see you":
"see you soon" and "see you later" are used interchangeably, no?
Unfortunately, none of our examples is as elegant or compelling as "caretaker" and "caregiver".
Off topic, but I liked it: What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.
the inherent weirdness of the english language..
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