# Resign v resign.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 3, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231 "2014-10-03T02:12:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@liontamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liontamer)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/1 "2014-10-03T02:12:43Z")
I do not want to call this an oxymoron but why is this word used for two different almost opposite meanings?
Your contract is about to expire. What will you do resign or resign?
---
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/2 "2014-10-03T02:17:48Z")
I don’t believe re-sign is a legit word. As in signing something again. You can’t just stick re on any word to indicate a repeated action.
resign mean you are voluntarily leaving employment.
---
### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/3 "2014-10-03T02:17:52Z")
That’s a good one. Definitely not an oxymoron but a fun little contradiction in language.
I think the ambiguity comes from the ‘re-’ prefix, which can indicate going backwards, or pressing forwards the second time. Does that make any sense?
---
### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/4 "2014-10-03T02:18:31Z")
I remembered to buckle my seatbelt before driving, but the buckle buckled and didn’t protect me in the end.
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/5 "2014-10-03T02:22:37Z")
The confusion arises because there are two derivative meanings of “re:”
> [@](#):
>
> a prefix, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion:
Either one can be used with “sign.” You can sign something a second time or you can withdraw your signature, or metaphorically quit.
Here’s what [etymonline.com](http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=resign&searchmode=none) has to say.
> [@](#):
>
> resign (v.)
> late 14c., “give up, surrender, abandon, submit; relinquish,” from Old French resigner “renounce, relinquish” (13c.), from Latin resignare “to check off, annul, cancel, give back, give up,” from re- “opposite” (see re-) + signare “to make an entry in an account book,” literally “to mark” (see sign (v.)).
>
> ```
> The sense is of making an entry (signum) "opposite" -- on the credit side -- balancing the former mark and thus canceling the claim it represents. The specific meaning of "give up a position" is first recorded late 14c. Sense of "to give (oneself) up to some emotion or situation" is from 1718. Related: Resigned; resigning.
>
> ```
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/6 "2014-10-03T02:26:03Z")
BTW, they’re called [contranyms](http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/contranym.html), antagonyms or autoantonyms.
> [@](#):
>
> bound (bound for Chicago, moving)
> bound (tied up, unable to move)
>
> cleave (to cut apart)
> cleave (to seal together)
>
> buckle (buckle your pants – to hold together)
> buckle (knees buckled – to collapse, fall aprt)
>
> citation (award for good behavior)
> citation (penalty for bad behavior)
>
> clip (attach to)
> clip (cut off from)
>
> cut (get into a line)
> cut (get out of a class)
>
> dust (remove dust)
> dust (apply dust – fingerprints)
>
> fast (moving rapidly)
> fast (fixed in position)
>
> left (remaining)
> left (having gone)
>
> literally (literally)
> literally (figuratively)
>
> moot (arguable)
> moot (not worthy of argument)
>
> oversight (watchful control)
> oversight (something not noticed)
And of course resign is a legit word. :smack:
---
### Author:  [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/7 "2014-10-03T02:26:15Z")
Well, in cases where the sense might not be obvious from the context, you can always spell the word with the sense to “to sign again” using a hyphen: _re-sign_.
It’s not the only English word with almost diametrically opposed senses. There’s also _cleave_, which can mean either to cut apart or to adhere, cling together. But the two senses of _cleave_ actually come from different roots, whereas the two senses of _resign_ both come from the same root; the Latin _signare_, to mark.
Edit: Ninjaed on a grand scale by Exapno Mapcase.
---
### Author:  [@liontamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liontamer)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/8 "2014-10-03T02:56:14Z")
Cool cool. Thanks for the info.
---
### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/9 "2014-10-03T03:35:04Z")
I always liked _table_ in the context of a bill or proposal. In US English, to _table_ a proposal means to set it aside and discuss it some other time. In British English it means to discuss it immediately. This difference actually caused problems during WW2 planning.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/10 "2014-10-03T03:47:32Z")
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen “re-sign” without the hyphen when meaning “to sign again.” (And, yes, it’s a real word. I’ve heard and seen it often in sports stories about a player re-signing with their team, for instance.)
---
### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/11 "2014-10-03T04:07:30Z")
They may be spelled the same, but I do not regard them as the same word, and pronounce them quite differently. The one meaning to sign again, I would say as _re-sine_, with a sibilant **s** , an equal stress on each syllable, and a slight pause between them (in truth, I would be inclined to write it with a hyphen too); the one meaning to abdicate from a position would be _reZINE_, with a **z** sound, no pause, and stress on the second syllable. The words are thus [homographs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph), but not [homonyms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym) or even [homophones](http://www.fantasticsupermarket.com/images/498/pink-phone-1_mini.jpg). i do not think they are truly contranyms, which, as I understand the notion, refers to cases when the _exact same word_ (not, usually, a pair of homonyms, let alone homographs or homophones) can have (very roughly) opposed meanings when it is used in different contexts. However, no doubt the concept of contranym, which is more a joke category than a serious analytic concept, can readily be broadened to encompass this example if you want.
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/12 "2014-10-03T04:17:35Z")
Unlike the other contranyms, the two resign’s aren’t pronounced the same. In resign (to quit), the S is voiced, whereas it is not in resign (sign again). So it’s only a contranym when written and if you write one of them with a hyphen, it’s not one at all.
ETA: ninja’d by njtt
---
### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/13 "2014-10-03T15:38:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I don’t believe re-sign is a legit word.
It’s certainly a confusing coinage.
In English, there’s a tend for compound words to start out as two words, migrate to a hyphenated word, and eventually drop the hyphen. Prefixes (like re-) often follow this pattern. E-mail is currently migrating – you’ll see “e-mail” and “email” used willy-nilly, sometimes by the same person.
In my office, one amusing and confusing issue arises when people correct an e-mail. Outlook uses the term “Resend this message,” so users will sometimes do that, and every once in a while will include in the text, “I resent this.”
Generally I would hyphenate that one. 😛
---
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/14 "2014-10-03T15:58:22Z")
Inflammable means flammable? What a country!
Sorry. Mandatory Simpsons reference. Carry on.
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/15 "2014-10-03T16:22:04Z")
> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> It’s certainly a confusing coinage.
>
> In English, there’s a tend for compound words to start out as two words, migrate to a hyphenated word, and eventually drop the hyphen. Prefixes (like re-) often follow this pattern. E-mail is currently migrating – you’ll see “e-mail” and “email” used willy-nilly, sometimes by the same person.
I don’t think people just how often this happens, and how recent some of the mergings are for common words. It was common practice until well into the 20th century to see to-day and to-morrow, and that lasted even longer in British English than American.
The e prefix seems to be merging at a quicker rate, although the speed seems to vary among various words. Email gets more hits on Google than E-mail, but e-commerce still outpaces ecommerce. Ebook wins over e-book. Ereader is ahead of e-reader.
The flip side of this is seen above. English indiscriminately uses prefixes from different sources with the same spelling but different meaning. Sometimes it’s just not easy to recognize what “re-” means or a variety of others.
Why? Because. There are no rules, no overseeing body. Just usage. And usage will beat you around the head until you surrender. Just ask anybody who still uses to-day and to-morrow.
---
### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/16 "2014-10-03T17:18:09Z")
When did figuratively become an _actual_ meaning of literally?
---
### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/17 "2014-10-03T18:00:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> When did figuratively become an _actual_ meaning of literally?
Never. “Figuratively” has never even been a figurative meaning of “literally”. “Literally” is, however, quite commonly _used figuratively_ to mean something like “very much”, and this confuses and enrages certain pedants.
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/18 "2014-10-03T20:56:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> When did figuratively become an _actual_ meaning of literally?
[A long, long time ago](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2005/11/the_word_we_love_to_hate.html).
> [@](#):
>
> As is often the case, though, such “abuses” have a long and esteemed history in English. Tom Sawyer wasn’t turning somersaults on piles of money when Twain described him as “literally rolling in wealth,” nor was Jay Gatsby shining when Fitzgerald wrote that “he literally glowed,” nor were Bach and Beethoven squeezed into a fedora when Joyce wrote in Ulysses that a Mozart piece was “the acme of first class music as such, literally knocking everything else into a cocked hat.” Such examples are easily come by, even in the works of the authors we are often told to emulate.
That article is from 2005, so it’s been trendy to hate for at least a decade. It notes that uses in the OED are found from the 17th century and that nobody seemed to care until the 20th.
And, bringing it all back home, it considers literally a contranym!
---
### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/19 "2014-10-03T20:59:12Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I remembered to buckle my seatbelt before driving, but the buckle buckled and didn’t protect me in the end.
“And because of the injuries to my pelvis, I need an operation to be re-membered.”
---
### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231/20 "2014-10-04T11:23:33Z")
> [@liontamer](#):
>
> Your contract is about to expire. What will you do resign or resign?
It’s not just 2 meanings…there are 3!
“Because I failed to resign my contract, I am resigned to the fact that I must resign from my job.”
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resign-v-resign/700231.md?page=2)