Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

oddly enough (interesting facts about the english language)

the word “palindrome” is not, itself, a palindrome.

“homonym” does not have a homonym

“antonym” has no opposite.*

“phonetically” cannot be spelled phonetically.

“mnemonic device” is actually not anything’s mnemonic device.

“onomatopoeia” is not, itself, an onomatopoeia.

finally, there is no other way of saying “synonym”.


*some argue that synonym is the opposite of antonym, following that the opposite meaning of "similar-meaning" is "opposite meaning", when - in fact - the opposite of "similar-meaning" is "nothing in common whatsoever" which is *not* opposite. opposition requires a relationship to the former, like colors dripping in and out of negative film and photograph. antonymous meaning requires a relationship. Thus, there is some similarity. a good example: "small" and "large". these two words are antonyms. however, they have something in common. they are both sizes. the opposite-of-synonym to "small" might be something absurd like "salmon", or "gazebo", or "and". these are not antonyms. get it?

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