# Why is "happy" the only emotion that can be "un"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943 "2018-09-07T13:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/1 "2018-09-07T13:59:12Z")
There is no such thing as being “unsad” or “unangry.” So how come “unhappy” is a word? ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/2 "2018-09-07T14:16:42Z")
What about Unexcited or unfazed ? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/3 "2018-09-07T14:22:38Z")
… unafraid, unashamed… ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/4 "2018-09-07T14:25:08Z")
Well this is uncomfortable… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/5 "2018-09-07T14:25:24Z")
Uncaring, unfeeling. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/6 "2018-09-07T14:47:57Z")
They may have been unprepared ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/7 "2018-09-07T14:49:26Z")
On the other hand, have you ever heard of anybody being derwhelmed? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/8 "2018-09-07T14:59:08Z")
From [etymonline.com](http://etymonline.com) > [@](#): > > happy (adj.) > > late 14c., “lucky, favored by fortune, being in advantageous circumstances, prosperous;” of events, “turning out well,” from hap (n.) “chance, fortune” + -y (2). … From Greek to Irish, a great majority of the European words for “happy” at first meant “lucky.” An exception is Welsh, where the word used first meant “wise.” > > unhappy (adj.) > > c. 1300, “causing misfortune or trouble (to oneself or others),” from un- (1) “not” + happy. Meaning “ **unfortunate** , **unlucky** ” is recorded from late 14c.; sense of “miserable, wretched” is recorded from late 14c. (originally via misfortune or mishap). ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/9 "2018-09-07T14:59:14Z")
How come you never hear about gruntled employees? Only the disgruntled ones? ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/10 "2018-09-07T15:01:29Z")
I think the concept of polar opposites might be what you’re thinking of. We can (if we want to be a bit silly about it) give a happiness rating from minus 100 up to plus 100. But I don’t automatically think of anger as even having a polar opposite. (Does it have one after all, and I’m just missing it?) Anyway, I can only rate anger from zero to plus 100 - the negative values don’t make sense to me. Now… ARE there really polar opposite emotions that we name “happy” and “unhappy”? Or is that just a convenient way of talking, but with no factual basis in the study of emotion? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/11 "2018-09-07T15:03:12Z")
> [@](#): > > The question is under what conditions does negation allow such contrary > readings? The facts are complicated, but part of the answer seems to be that they > occur with evaluatively positive (e-positive) predicates the denial of which may > indirectly express an evaluatively negative (e-negative) judgement. Thus, for > example, we find contrary readings available with (weakly) e-positive predicates, as > in (8), but not with e-negative or strongly e-positive predicates, as in (9). > > (8) a. He’s not nice. (= ‘he’s mean’) > b. She’s not happy. (= ‘she’s sad’) > > (9) a. He’s not mean. (≠ ‘he’s nice’) > b. She’s not sad. (≠ ‘she’s happy’) > c. She’s not ecstatic. (≠ ‘she’s miserable’) > > Similarly, with affixal negation, the English _un-_ prefix in (10) yields contrary > meanings in combination with e-positive roots, but tends not to combine at all with > the contrary e-negative roots (Zimmer 1964). > > (10) happy unhappy sad \*unsad > kind unkind cruel \*uncruel > wise unwise foolish \*unfoolish > > A form like _unhappy_ provides an oblique way of delivering the loaded content of > sad; but _unsad_ can serve no similar purpose, as one is normally happy to express the content of _happy_. > > The pragmatics of contrary negation is clearest perhaps in the phenomenon of > neg(ative)-raising, as in (11), where a matrix negation is interpreted as applying to an embedded constituent. > > (11) a. I don’t think you should do that. (= ‘I think you should not …’) > b. I don’t suppose you’d like to dance. (= ‘I suppose you wouldn’t…’) [https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/590a/c3fc3befa20d527a60e5be1c40243bf0f576.pdf](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/590a/c3fc3befa20d527a60e5be1c40243bf0f576.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/12 "2018-09-07T15:04:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > There is no such thing as being “unsad” or “unangry.” So how come “unhappy” is a word? I hope my answer doesn’t leave you unsatisfied. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/13 "2018-09-07T15:16:27Z")
There’s the dead and the undead. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/14 "2018-09-07T15:17:11Z")
There’s the enthusiastic and the unenthusiastic. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/15 "2018-09-07T15:27:13Z")
I, for one, am unabashed. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/16 "2018-09-07T15:42:23Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I, for one, am unabashed. I’m undeserving ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/17 "2018-09-07T15:43:19Z")
I’m combobulated ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/18 "2018-09-07T15:50:25Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > I’m combobulated But are you _hinged?_ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/19 "2018-09-07T15:55:47Z")
Is this an unserious question? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943/20 "2018-09-07T15:58:45Z")
I’m unsure. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-happy-the-only-emotion-that-can-be-un/820943.md?page=2)