Negatives without positives

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Inspired by Dan's mystery hyphen in non-chalantly on the poor customer service thread. Is is possible to be chalant? WHat are your other favourite negations of words which don't actually exist (poss any more).

― Pete, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'd like to see the word "ruth" resurrected ie. the opposite of ruthless. Based on the biblical character "Ruth" who represents mercy and kindness.

― Trevor, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

gormless was alwyas my favourite one. i've never come across an instance of gormfulness yet!

― katie, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

including the case of my typing, "alwyas" pah.

― katie, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There is an example of this on the link I posted when the Darts thread mysteriously wandered into the realms of atagonyms (words which have diametrically opposed meanings). PG Wodehouse, who had a flair for this kind of thing, invented the word "gruntled" as the opposite of disgruntled. HOWEVER, gruntled already existed as an olde Anglo-Saxon word (derived from the noise that pigs make) meaning pretty much the opposite of what Wodehouse imagined. antagonyms

― Edna Welthorpe, Mrs, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

do not use materials which are flammable — it is dangerous: ONLY USE MATERIALS WHICH SAY 'HIGHLY INFLAMMABLE'!!

― mark s, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Er..... nonce? Nonagon? You don't see many ces or agons around do you?

― Emma, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But inflammable means "can be inflamed" ie set alight. The opposite is non-inflammable. Flammable is nonsense invented because people got confused by inflammable.

― Sam, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

(Sorry, completely tangential: I was just poking around in that Atlantic word fugitives link and found the following Q which is both urgent and key:

Is there a female version of the term "phallic symbol"? It seems that we often refer to things that resemble the male anatomy as "phallic," but there doesn't appear to be a word for things that resemble the female anatomy.)

― Edna Welthorpe, Mrs, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

flammable is not nonsense as such. check with the alt.usage.english FAQ

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i think that "gutting" should mean adding guts not removing them.

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well of course Emma in nonagon (a word generally not used an awful lot) the prefix is "nona" - to mean nine. (cf Polygon).

― Pete, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

in the US they don't hyphenate much, so you get the reverse where "non-" and "co-" seem to make new words like "nonnative" (looks like some obscure grammatical term) and "coworker" (pronounced cow-acker).

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Seven of Nona!

― Andrew L, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah well it still starts with the letters non Mr Show Off Maths Boy.

― Emma, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You were being deliberatly provocative, dim-witted linguist girl.

― Pete, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

flammable fr. latin flammare "often used officially to avoid ambiguity of inflammable" [OED]

so there mr sam so-called chirombo3000!!!

― mark s, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

is there such a thing as a sequitur? because it's half past one and i am hungry

― Jeff W, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

isn't it what you prune roses with?

― chris, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well I'm not sure if a non-sequiteur is diametrically opposite to a think which cuts roses, but it certainly isn't said pruning device so I guess it works on a basic level of correctness.

― Pete, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I meant "it's considered nonsense by poncey prescriptive grammarians thank goodness I'm not one of them phew".

Obviously.

― Sam, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That reminds me of the story about the one time Peter Cook's wit failed him. He went into a hardware shop and said "Secateurs?" and the assistant said "Non sequitur." PC walked away giggling.

― Sam, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My favorite backformation is the mono-kini. Which implies that the reason a bi-kini is called such is because there are 2 pieces, when in actuality it was named after the marshallese island where nuclear tests were conducted. I think the first bikini was actually called Le Atom - because it was so explosive on the eyes?!

― marianna, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am confused. When did Dave Popshots become me? I already have enough troubling being Ned!

― Dan Perry, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The three faces of Dan.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I also have enough trouble using the word "trouble" in a sentence, apparently.

Dan, Dave, and Ned star in: THE MUSIC GEEK HAS THREE FACES, AND ONE OF THEM IS BLACK.

― Dan Perry, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"coworker" (pronounced cow-acker)

I'm confused, although I'm guessing this may be a joke. Coworker isn't pronounced that way, at least not here in the States.

― Sean, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Scott Adams encourages people to pronounce it "cow-ORker".

― Dan Perry, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

THE MUSIC GEEK HAS THREE FACES, AND ONE OF THEM IS BLACK

Sign me up!

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I saw the word "vulvic" used as the female equivalent to "phallic" in an article on Georgia O'Keefe's paintings.

― nickn, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I want to decorate my house entirely with vulvic symbols.

― electric sound of jim, Sunday, 13 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Does salubrious ever get used without a negative?

― Graham, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Good point Graham, well made. Not in my experience, no.

― N., Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

On Friday we came up with Muffic - which could then easily be turned into the fantastic description Terrmuffic!! (as in Switchblade Sisters on Friday Night was Terrmuffic!!)

― Pete, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Salubrious is used all the time, though often when in the throes of...sarcasm.

― suzy, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ungainly?

― alext, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

though often when in the throes of...sarcasm.

Well exactly, there's your negative.

― N., Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I also use salubrious when talking about salubrious areas of London, eg. Kensington.

― suzy, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Can I be the black one? I'm always the Honky, and I suck at being a Honky.

(I guess I should be happy I wasn't confused with Jess. AGAIN.)

― David Raposa, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.