# Any other phrases that are examples of themselves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550 "2015-03-08T20:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/21 "2015-03-09T14:05:58Z")
Tautological example is tautological. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/22 "2015-03-09T14:22:23Z")
The word “erudite” is an erudite word. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/23 "2015-03-09T14:58:09Z")
At the word level, the term for adjectives that apply to themselves is [autological](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autological_word). E.g., “polysyllabic” is a polysyllabic word. The opposite is heterological. E.g., “French” is not a French word. “Blue” is not a blue word. The billion dollar question: Is “heterological” a heterological word? ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/24 "2015-03-09T15:03:48Z")
Here’s another heterological word: The word “pulchritude” means “beauty,” but I find it’s a very ugly word. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/25 "2015-03-09T15:56:08Z")
This is a pretty long sentence that starts out well, but rapidly devolves, without warning, into a meandering series of comma-separated clauses, none of which seem to be really making a move towards a point, though all of them are intelligible, and the sentence is grammatical, and just when you’re starting to wonder if it actually has or ever had a point in the author’s mind, or if if will ever end, it suddenly does. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/26 "2015-03-09T16:59:31Z")
Be brief! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/27 "2015-03-09T17:12:43Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > TLA > Three letter acronym. > > ETLA > > Extended three letter acronym TLA Three Letter Acronym UTE Unnecessary TLA Extending ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/28 "2015-03-09T17:30:46Z")
This is the song that never ends… ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/29 "2015-03-09T17:54:21Z")
Thanks for all the awesome and amusing examples. > [@ftg](#): > > At the word level, the term for adjectives that apply to themselves is [autological](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autological_word). E.g., “polysyllabic” is a polysyllabic word. I was wondering if there was a term for this sort of thing, but thought it was too rare to have earned a word. \*Protip: Put a list of these examples alongside a copy of Foucault’s “This is Not A Pipe” for a quick and easy philosophical paper. \* ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/30 "2015-03-09T18:40:15Z")
No means no. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/31 "2015-03-09T19:16:31Z")
Unnecessary redundancy? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/32 "2015-03-09T20:23:19Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > Thanks for all the awesome and amusing examples. > I was wondering if there was a term for this sort of thing, but thought it was too rare to have earned a word. > > \*Protip: Put a list of these examples alongside a copy of Foucault’s “This is Not A Pipe” for a quick and easy philosophical paper. \* Or put them in this bag: [http://www.zazzle.com/drill\_bags-149285712182858731](http://www.zazzle.com/drill_bags-149285712182858731) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/33 "2015-03-09T22:35:24Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > Foucault’s “This is Not A Pipe” Do you mean Magritte, or are you referring to a work other than [The Treachery of Images](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images)? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/34 "2015-03-09T23:52:53Z")
This sentence no verb. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/35 "2015-03-10T00:09:19Z")
I think you a word out. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/36 "2015-03-10T15:55:05Z")
I remember reading [a bunch of these](http://www.plainlanguage.gov/examples/humor/writegood.cfm) from William Safire when I was a kid. Here’s a few. A writer must not shift your point of view. It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions. Eschew obfuscation. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/37 "2015-03-10T18:45:12Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Do you mean Magritte, or are you referring to a work other than [The Treachery of Images](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images)? Sorry, you are correct. I was indeed referring to the painting The Treachery of Images. Partly, it’s flawed memory, partly, it’s that googling Foucault and “this is not a pipe” returns many pages selling Foucalt’s book “This is Not a Pipe”, which I mistook in my quick skimming\* to be the original work I was thinking of. - I’ve learned that, here on the SDMB, even minor inaccuracies can derail a thread into tangents totally unrelated to your original meaning. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/38 "2015-03-10T19:42:39Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > When Martin Gardner retired from writing his Mathematical Games column for Scientific American, Hofstadter took it over with a new column called “Metamagical Themas” (which was quickly discovered to be an anagram of Mathematical Games). Even then, he was obsessed with self-referential themes of the sort that he was obsessed with, being obsessed with them as he was. It became clear rather quickly that he was a one-trick pony, and his column didn’t last long. “Pretty quickly”? Didn’t Hofstadter say so in his first column? That is my recollection. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/39 "2015-03-10T20:39:01Z")
I’ve told you a million times: Don’t use hyperbole!!! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/40 "2015-03-10T20:40:14Z")
“Ending sentences with prepositions is something up with which I shall not put!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550.md?page=3)