# Words that mean something and it's opposite? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068 "2017-05-07T17:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/61 "2017-06-01T22:36:15Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > covfefe **Moderator Note** Let’s keep political jokes out of GQ. No warning issued. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/62 "2017-09-13T18:34:53Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Johanna: Are any of those words homophones – “convergent evolution” of unrelated root words – or else are they truly single words that somehow evolved to have opposite meanings? The latter, I think. Or, more nuancedly, they are of the same root and, if they converged, they probably converged from near-similar derivations of the same root. But I think it more likely that they began as [forking paths](http://www.coldbacon.com/writing/borges-garden.html) within a single word. The way the Semitic consonantal root system functions in Arabic, each root begets a whole clan of related words, thanks to the efficient and regular system of deriving words from the roots. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/63 "2017-09-13T18:39:15Z")
I’m old school and “Sick” used to have a different meaning. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/64 "2017-09-13T22:41:12Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Does the NYT style guide still say that “Ms.” doesn’t exist? The paper refused to do what every other paper in the country did when Geraldine Ferraro was running for VP, and call Her Ms. Ferraro. Which she wasn’t. Her maiden name was Ferraro, but as she kept it after her marriage, she wasn’t properly either Miss or Mrs. Ferraro. Her husband’s last name, IIRC, was Zaccaro, so I suppose the paper could have insisted on Mrs. Zaccaro, but that was not her legal name, and would not be on the ballot. > > My mother made my father boycott it during the election, which was a sore spot, because it was his favorite paper. My mother read _The Village Voice_. Plus the local rag. The NY Times has used “Ms.” for a couple decades now. They had a page 2 column on the subject within the last week or two. (The page 2 column is for Times history.) I would not use a period since it is not an abbreviation of anything AFAiK, but I just checked and they do. ---
**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 14, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/65 "2017-09-14T13:24:24Z")
When the NY Times decided to use Ms, Gloria Steinman quipped: I’ll no longer be referred to as Miss Steinman of Ms. Magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/66 "2017-09-15T01:35:02Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Aloha > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Shalom K’plah. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/67 "2017-09-15T20:34:56Z")
In French, _apprendre_ can mean either ‘learn’ or ‘teach’ ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/68 "2017-09-17T12:13:18Z")
The ambulance takes people to hospital, but if you can walk ( ambulatory) you are expected to take yourself. could, as in “I could care less”. thats due to the expression being corrupted, but the negative part (missing in the corrupt version) has to belong to “could”… so the could is a negative not a positive. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/69 "2017-09-19T01:35:39Z")
She’s awful pretty. Yeah, but her husband is pretty awful. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/70 "2017-09-19T03:07:01Z")
The verbs to best and to worst both mean exactly the same thing, _He bested him in the fight. He worsted him in the fight._ In both cases he beat him in the fight. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068/71 "2017-09-19T11:49:32Z")
As opposed to “he wursted him in the fight”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-mean-something-and-its-opposite/786068.md?page=3)