Ever notice there's one letter difference betwen a friend and a fiend?

[aceplace57]

A typo brought this to my attention. Friend and fiend are antonyms. Only one letter different.

fiend
a : devil 1 b : demon c : a person of great wickedness or maliciousness. 2. : a person extremely devoted to a pursuit or study : fanatic <a golf fiend>. 3

Friend
1 a : one attached to another by affection or esteem b : acquaintance 2 a : one that is not hostile b : one that is of the same nation, party, or group 3: one that favors or promotes something (as a charity) 4: a favored companion

SDMB Challenge; Can you list more antonyms one letter apart?

[postcards]

Purify

Putrefy

(Okay, two letters...)

[Colibri]

It's been noticed before. Director Werner Herzog's biography of his favorite actor and adversary, the nearly insane Klaus Kinski, is entitled My Best Fiend. Herzog claims he and Kinski at one point plotted to have one another killed.

There was also an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle where Boris Badanov stole a letter and changed the title of the show to Rocky and His Fiends.

[billfish678]

Well, that does explain why pirates are always running around saying "r".

[aceplace57]

I thought of another one. :D

Lover - Loser

Your SO becomes a pathetic loser, in your mind, when you decide to dump them.

In that context the words are antonyms.

[Bayard]

Not quite antonyms, but ...

A charming wit is a few bad jokes away from becoming an insufferable twit.

And marital strife hopefully has little in common with the martial kind.

[sahirrnee]

therapist = the rapist

[Joey P]

I knew it because it was pointed out on an episode of Mr Wizard. I don't remember what the experiment was, but he flipped a card up and put it down quickly. It said fiend and she kept reading it as friend.

[njtt]

united
untied

[Aspidistra]

"Not" and "Now" are one of my bugbears.

"I'm now ready"
"I'm not ready"

Bit of a difference there...

[Joey P]

united
untied

I'll see your untied and raise you an obligatory XKCD (http://xkcd.com/745/).

[chowching]

now here
nowhere

[Dano83860]

I once heard a story about a teacher who gave students a word each day that they needed to rearrange into another word. He stopped the practice on the day he gave them the word spine. :smack:

[maggenpye]

Laughter, slaughter

Though I've heard some comedians kill with a good joke.

[Voyager]

This was the basis of my favorite Rocky and Bullwinkle commercial. After Boris complains in the commercial about always losing out, Bill Conrad, the narrator, ends with
"Be sure to watch Rocky and his Fiends, I mean Friends. Who stole that R?"

Boris "Never underestimate the power of a shnook."

[Ethilrist]

There's also only one letter's difference between Friend and Diner, but only if you jumble it up.

[Mk VII]

My mother's friend from long-ago days as a secretary is a poor typist (or just out of practice) and often typed 'fiend' for 'friend' in her letters.

[cjepson]

Well, east and west differ by only one letter... but there's a bit of rearrangement.

[LightWithoutHeattttttttttttttt]

Performing in a rock band I found out once that "go" and "no" have opposite meanings:

What was actually said:
Are you ready?
No!

How it was interpreted:
Are you ready?
Go!

(still tuning up, and the drummer started the first song ... aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhh!)

[cjepson]

Night and light?

Feast and fast?

The difference is more than one letter, but love and loathe are pretty opposite.

[tdn]

Laughter, slaughter

SLaughter is the best medicine.
--The Dark Night

From Zero to Hero
--The Mask

[G0sp3l]

Had you ever met any of my "friends" you'd soon see, spelling notwithstanding, there's no difference at all.

[Bayard]

Feast and fast?

That's a good one!

[LegendHasit]

along the same theme:

assuage
sausage

[Chronos]

Description of a D&D paladin: "Starts with L, ends with D, and with awful goo in the middle"

[Ura-Maru]

Those aren't really antonyms, though. 'Friend' describes your relationship to the person, Fiend describes their nature. Fiends can have friends. They usually do.

--
Santa and Satan is an old chestnut.

[lost4life]

In Spanish, esposa means wife, and esposas means handcuffs, but that would be more of a synonym.

[maggenpye]

In Spanish, esposa means wife, and esposas means handcuffs, but that would be more of a synonym.

A bit like groom and gloom?

[cjepson]

Fight and flight.

I'm sure we can come up with a few others here and there...

[Nava]

In Spanish, esposa means wife, and esposas means handcuffs, but that would be more of a synonym.

Specially if the couple is into BDSM.