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If antiphrasis is a word used to mean its opposite, what are some notable examples of this linguistic entity?
I'm blank on this one, so many thanks in advance for helping out here.
Best regards,
WW
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The Forest of Rhetoric ( http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm) defines it as "irony of one word" and gives as an example: Referring to a tall person: "Now there's a midget for you" Thus it is not the category often represented incorrectly by cleave and cleave. There's a whole nother name for that which I never remember but tsuwm does.
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Thanks, Faldage, for the example.
I think Mark Twain must be a master of antiphrasitic (?) usage.
This isn't an example of that, but I remember reading something of Twain's in which he was describing how slowly his riverboat moved, and he observed that the islands moved more rapidly than this riverboat.
Best regards,
WW
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Date: Tue Dec 26 00:17:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--antiphrasis
X-Bonus: A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)
antiphrasis (an-TIF-ruh-sis) noun
The use of a word or phrase in a sense contrary to its normal meaning
for ironic or humorous effect, as in a mere babe of 40 years.
[Late Latin, from Greek, from antiphrazein, to express by the opposite :
anti-, anti- + phrazein, to speak.]
"He was murmuring something between lips decorated by a little mustache,
which gave a sarcastic touch to his clerk-like expression, a mustache
folded over his mouth like an antiphrasis, which tinged whatever he said
with maliciousness, no matter how solemn it was."
Edoardo Albinati & John Satriano, Story Written on a Motorcycle,
Antioch Review, Summer 1992.
"Perhaps Charles McGrath, in The New Yorker, sums up the ambivalence most
eloquently. `How good are these books really?' he asks, and answers: not
so good--although he does so in the more flattering antiphrasis of `good
enough that you wish they were even better.'"
Neil Gordon, The admiral, Village Voice, Jun 6, 1995.============================================================ from: http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/archives/1200This reminds me of one of my favorites of Anu's categories: words that go out of their way to not apply to themselves.
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Greenland aside, tsuwm, what *is the word for those sets of words that are spelled the same but have opposite meanings?
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the enantiodromic process sometimes changes the meaning of words from one thing to its opposite over time; thus prestigious originally meant cheating, deluding, deceitful; deceptive, illusory (cf. prestidigitation), and now means having influence or reputation derived from previous character, achievements, or associations. (the link is magic, glamour). some have disdain for the big word and call these words, where both senses still survive, Janus words. you can find lists of them online, but many of them are highly questionable (which is to say, they're a reach).
on the other hand, cleave and cleave are not conjugates but homonyms.
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Since the two "cleaves" are a subset of homonyms, is there a special name for this? And can you cite other pairs of words having the same spelling but different meanings?
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Since the two "cleaves" are a subset of homonyms, is there a special name for this? And can you cite other pairs of words having the same spelling but different meanings?
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cite other pairs of words having the same spelling but different meanings
Let and let.
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Does "MS Works" count?
You bet your sweet bippy it does!*
-------
*This comment was in no way endorsed or commissioned by Apple Inc or any of its subsidiaries.
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Does "MS Works" count?
You bet your sweet bippy it does!*Funny, AnnaS, I could have sworn it was just another one o' them oxymoron thingies ... 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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oxymoron thingies ...
Out of my way will I go, dear CapK, a dig to get in at Microsoft -- even rhetorical devices to stretch.
and I'll bet my sweet bippy that goes for Max, too...
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All this Mac trashing of Uncle Bill reminds me of the old story about the Yanks and Brits at the PX during WWII.
The Yanks decided they wanted to pick a fight with the Brits and yelled, "Bleep the King!" The Brits got all up in arms and a Donnybrook ensued.
Next night the Brits decided it was their turn to pick a fight with the Yanks, so they yelled, "Bleep the President!"
The Yanks, hearing this, all responded, "Yeah! Bleep the President!"
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Since the two "cleaves" are a subset of homonyms, is there a special name for this? And can you cite other pairs of words having the same spelling but different meanings?
I'd guess not -- ambiguous definitions are given for homonym; here is M-W's 1c def'n: one of two or more words pronounced and spelled alike but different in meaning (as the noun quail and the verb quail).
now, what I want is another pair of words with the same spelling and pronunciation with *opposite meanings.
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