# Words that sound like very different things **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338 "2014-04-04T13:59:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/21 "2014-04-04T23:04:04Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > I have similar feelings about the word _supervision_. Fred: Super Chicken, what happened to your super vision? Super Chicken: Fred, if I had supervision, would I be riding in a flying chicken coop with a lion? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/22 "2014-04-04T23:16:58Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I know what penultimate means, but it seems like a lot of word for the purpose of it. It seems like it should mean something pretty remarkable. And an even longer word for something even less remarkable: antepenultimate. Third from last. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/23 "2014-04-04T23:23:27Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > “Subduction” sounds like it should end in sexy fun times, but instead tends to end in earthquakes and tsunamis. Formication is also a lot less pleasant than you might expect. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/24 "2014-04-04T23:26:53Z")
Noisome is another confusing one. You’d think that something that’s noisome would offend your ears rather than your nose. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/25 "2014-04-05T01:29:13Z")
Intubate means to stick a tube in, but I feel like it should mean to incubate in hot water. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/26 "2014-04-05T02:39:45Z")
Speaking of enervate, there is also innervate, which means to supply with nerves. Anyway, matriculate sounds a lot worse than what it means. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/27 "2014-04-05T03:49:51Z")
No way should a fortnight be two weeks long. And then there’s the sinister _defenestrate_ which I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know the meaning of. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/28 "2014-04-05T04:10:53Z")
I might as well mention “enormity” before anyone else does. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/29 "2014-04-05T04:10:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But I can see his point. Words like recant, revoke, and renounce should be saying something again rather than taking back something that was already said. Indeed. The words should be uncant, unvoke, and unnounce. Unnounce might cause problems because it sounds too similar to announce. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/30 "2014-04-05T04:56:55Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Indeed. The words should be uncant, unvoke, and unnounce. Unnounce might cause problems because it sounds too similar to announce. The Greek anti- might be better. Anticant and antivoke work and antinounce is still somewhat similar to announce but less so than unnounce. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/31 "2014-04-05T12:06:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Formication is also a lot less pleasant than you might expect. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Noisome is another confusing one. You’d think that something that’s noisome would offend your ears rather than your nose. > [@cjepson](#): > > I might as well mention “enormity” before anyone else does. According to the Cambridge online dictionary ([http://dictionary.cambridge.org/](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/)) and my Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary: fornicate = to have sex with someone you are not married to. American dictionary indicates same definition (it adds voluntarily" to the definition). noisome = very unpleasant and offensive. American dictionary indicates “as in an odor,” so it’s not limited to stench. enormity = very great size or importance. American dictionary indicates same definition in third place. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/32 "2014-04-05T13:52:22Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > According to the Cambridge online dictionary ([http://dictionary.cambridge.org/](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/)) and my Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary: > > fornicate = to have sex with someone you are not married to. American dictionary indicates same definition (it adds voluntarily" to the definition). “Formicate”, not “fornicate”. To crawl like an ant or be swarmed with ants. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/33 "2014-04-05T14:04:14Z")
onomatopoeia Bladder infection? Nope. BOOM. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/34 "2014-04-05T14:24:50Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > noisome = very unpleasant and offensive. American dictionary indicates “as in an odor,” so it’s not limited to stench. > > enormity = very great size or importance. American dictionary indicates same definition in third place. So many people use these words improperly that dictionaries feel obligated to acknowledge these improper usages. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/35 "2014-04-06T03:03:43Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > “Formicate”, not “fornicate”. To crawl like an ant or be swarmed with ants. Whoops, should have looked more closely before posting. Interesting that it seems to share the same root as that of formic acid. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So many people use these words improperly that dictionaries feel obligated to acknowledge these improper usages. Sorry, that doesn’t make much sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/36 "2014-04-06T06:40:35Z")
Inflammable should not be. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/37 "2014-04-06T10:07:52Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > Sorry, that doesn’t make much sense to me. “Prescriptive” and “descriptive” are extremes along a continuum – there is a big gray area in the middle. Most dictionaries will include definitions that are gaining in popular usage such that they may soon not even be considered “wrong” by the “experts.” Almost every word I’m writing in this post once meant a different set of things than it means today. That’s how language works. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/38 "2014-04-06T10:32:32Z")
When spoken, particularly on news broadcasts, “the house was razed” sounds like a positive thing, until they add “to the ground.” “Raised” and “razed” aren’t antonyms, but they have a reasonably opposite feel. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/39 "2014-04-06T11:19:39Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Inflammable should not be. I get incandescent when people say things like that… ‘Spendthrift’ always strikes me as the opposite of what it means. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338/40 "2014-04-06T14:27:49Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Inflammable should not be. See entry #12 above [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-like-very-different-things/685338.md?page=3)