# Seeming Opposites That Mean the Exact Same Thing
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 3, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923 "2021-08-03T01:29:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/1 "2021-08-03T01:29:37Z")
I had this idea for a thread quite some time ago. But it’s been so long, I don’t even remember if I posted. In any event, it was long ago in any event, as I said.
Words that seemingly should mean the exact opposite, but don’t…
_Canny_ and _Uncanny_ mean the same thing, I once read. So does _Flammable_ and _Inflammable_.
Oh, and I just thought of one now. _Could_ and _Couldn’t_ mean the exact same thing, in the sentence _I could/couldn’t care less_. Does that last one count?
Oh, well. Anyone know of any other ones 🙂 ?
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### Author:  [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/2 "2021-08-03T01:32:25Z")
Flammable and Inflammable.
StG
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### Author:  [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/3 "2021-08-03T01:49:38Z")
Not only is it mentioned in the op, but it’s in italics!
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### Author:  [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/4 "2021-08-03T02:07:56Z")
All I can say is it’s been a long day. Sorry, Jim.
StG
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### Author:  [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/5 "2021-08-03T02:20:29Z")
Not sure if this counts, but “peruse” technically means to read very closely and carefully, yet it has been misused to mean “skim” or “flip through” to the point that has become the dominant meaning. A similar thing happened with “edgy,” which went from meaning “nervous” to something closer to “bold.”
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### Author:  [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/6 "2021-08-03T02:32:32Z")
Valuable and invaluable. At least, as used by people who don’t understand what invaluable means. I hear certain items in video games that you buy from vendors in-game as being invaluable for a certain task, and I guess they are right in one sense, but the fact that the item has an in-game value that the vendors will accept make it seem to not apply. Sure, no amount of real-world money could replace that item, but that’s true for practically anything in a video game (except pay-to-win micro transaction games, which I wouldn’t even consider games).
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### Author:  [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/7 "2021-08-03T02:34:02Z")
This is not about auto-antonyms, words that have two senses which are opposite to each other, but two words where one appears to mean the opposite of the other, but they actually mean basically the same thing.
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### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/8 "2021-08-03T02:36:16Z")
@Esprise_Me _Pricey_ and _Priceless_?
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### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/9 "2021-08-03T02:36:44Z")
What you seek sounds like a subset of synonyms. It’s not leaping out from wikipedia, however.
> **[Synonym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synonym)**
>
> A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words begin, start, commence, and initiate are all synonyms of one another: they are synonymous. The standard test for synonymy is substitution: one form can be replaced by another in a sentence without changing its meaning. Words are considered synonymous in only one particular sense: for example, long and extended i So...
> [@Esprise\_Me](#):
>
> Not sure if this counts, but “peruse” technically means to read very closely and carefully, yet it has been misused to mean “skim” or “flip through” to the point that has become the dominant meaning.
Hmmm…
> **[Definition of PERUSE](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peruse)**
>
> to examine or consider with attention and in detail : study; to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner; read; especially : to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner… See the full definition
Awhile back, I stumbled across contronyms. E.g.: **Clip** : To fasten (clip papers together), or detach (clip coupons).
> **[75 Contronyms (Words with Contradictory Meanings) - DAILY WRITING TIPS](https://www.dailywritingtips.com/75-contronyms-words-with-contradictory-meanings/)**
>
> The English language includes an interesting category of words and phrases called contronyms (also spelled contranyms, or referred to as autoantonyms) --
Who knew there were soooooo many -onyms?
> **[\-onym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-onym)**
>
> The suffix -onym (from Ancient Greek: ὄνυμα, lit. 'name') is a bound morpheme, that is attached to the end of a root word, thus forming a new compound word that designates a particular class of names. In linguistic terminology, compound words that are formed with suffix -onym are most commonly used as designations for various onomastic classes. Most onomastic terms that are formed with suffix -onym are classical compounds, whose word roots are taken from classical languages (Greek and Latin).\[ Fo...
It reminds me of the riddle: what do job, herb, and polish have in common?
Capitalizing them can change their pronunciation. Heteronyms…
ETA Glowacks mentioned auto antonyms…same as contronyms. Ninja’ed!
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/10 "2021-08-03T10:13:01Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> _Flammable_ and _Inflammable_ .
That’s an interesting one. Originally we had _Inflammable_ and _non-Inflammable_ but that proved to be confusing because In English, we think of _in-_ as a prefix that means “not”: _inactive_ means “not active.” Therefore, _inflammable_ should mean “not flammable.”
In 1959 the British Standards Institution issued the following advice: “In order to avoid any possible ambiguity, it is the Institution’s policy to encourage the use of the terms ‘flammable’ and ‘non-flammable’ rather than ‘inflammable’ and ‘non-inflammable.”
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/11 "2021-08-03T13:56:41Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> _Canny_ and _Uncanny_ mean the same thing
They do not mean the same thing.
**[Uncanny](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uncanny)**
**[Canny](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/canny)**
> [@](#):
>
> Oh, and I just thought of one now. _Could_ and _Couldn’t_ mean the exact same thing, in the sentence _I could/couldn’t care less_ . Does that last one count?
They do not mean the exact same thing. Using “could” in that sentence is an error–a common one, but an error nonetheless.
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### Author:  [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/12 "2021-08-03T13:56:48Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> _Canny_ and _Uncanny_ mean the same thing, I once read.
Your source was incorrect. The current meanings, at least, have absolutely nothing in common.
Merriam-Webster defines canny as: “[clever](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clever), [shrewd](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shrewd) a canny lawyer also **:** [prudent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prudent) canny investments.”
Uncanny is: "a **:** seeming to have a [supernatural](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supernatural) character or origin **:** [eerie](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eerie), [mysterious](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mysterious)
b **:** being beyond what is normal or expected **:** suggesting [superhuman](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superhuman) or supernatural powers."
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/13 "2021-08-03T15:23:39Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> Oh, and I just thought of one now. _Could_ and _Couldn’t_ mean the exact same thing, in the sentence _I could/couldn’t care less_ . Does that last one count?
No. No, it does not.
Let David Mitchell explain it to you…
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw)
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/14 "2021-08-03T15:33:11Z")
Ravel and unravel can be used similarly.
Without watching the video, I’ll just say that couldn’t care less is meant as sarcasm, and sarcasm reverses the meaning of a phrase. I couldn’t care less is idiomatic slang and not, not, not an error.
We’ve done both topics many times before, if anybody cares to search.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/15 "2021-08-03T15:35:21Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Let David Mitchell explain it to you…
Thanks for this video. But Weird Al takes care of it more succinctly in “Word Crimes”:
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8Gv0H-vPoDc/maxresdefault.jpg ""Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes (Official 4K Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc&t=66)
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/16 "2021-08-03T15:38:22Z")
Yes, but he’s missing the righteous anger 🙂
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/17 "2021-08-03T19:03:29Z")
A thing on fire, say a house, could be described as ‘burning up’ or ‘burning down’.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/18 "2021-08-03T19:13:58Z")
Both slang terms but pantsed and depantsed mean the same thins.
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### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/19 "2021-08-03T19:30:54Z")
I don’t know if this is exactly what you were looking for, but in the US we “fill out” a form. In the UK they “fill in” a form.
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### Author:  [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeming-opposites-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing/947923/20 "2021-08-03T21:01:34Z")
Bone and debone - as in, what you do to a fish prior to eating it - mean the same thing.
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