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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 293
enthusiast
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OP
enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 293 |
I like this week's theme: word possessing (seemingly) opposite meanings.
I have a dispute with today's choice, continuance.
The second definition (An adjournment of a court proceeding to a future day), although on the surface appears to be a contradiction, actually means "an agreement by all to continue on another day". So it is not really in opposition.
"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
I agree 100%! You beat me to it!
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Joined: Oct 2008
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Oct 2008
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Brings to mind buckle which means both to fall apart and come together.
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 23
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 23 |
Yes, that's a nice one. I agree with Anu over 'continuance' though . . . this usage means discontinuing before continuing. Similarly, I have to think twice about dates being 'brought forward' -- time progresses onward but meetings are brought (back, as I see it) in order to happen earlier.
I once started a list of phrases that mean the opposite of their literal sense. Things like "I don't want to interrupt/contradict/disappoint you" and "What you mean to say is . . . " and "This won't take a minute".
Any more?
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Side with ParkinT and 2sleepy.
I though this morning that this word wasn't altogether . . tja. I was thinking it could mean a sort of a status quo of whatever is going on, be it active or passive. So, this word seemed to me to have only one and the same meaning.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Ooh, ooh--I just got around to reading yesterday's Word: the author quoted is a Kentuckian, quite famous around these parts.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Wendell Berry read it, interesting. [ What I stand for is what I stand on.]To be able to stand for what you stand on depends on what you stand on. (It sounds like a privilege to be able to say that, I mean)
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Definitely sounds all good, but when will I have time to read all the books I still want to read? And listen to music, which I can't do both at the same time.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Yeah, you can have music on while you read (I have Sicut Servus on YouTube right now), but you can't listen to it.
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