renzev@lemmy.world to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.worldEnglish · 7 days agoEnglish has too many words for animalslemmy.worldimagemessage-square40linkfedilinkarrow-up123arrow-down13file-text
arrow-up120arrow-down1imageEnglish has too many words for animalslemmy.worldrenzev@lemmy.world to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.worldEnglish · 7 days agomessage-square40linkfedilinkfile-text
Yall should remove some of these animal words and instead add different words for like the 5 different meanings of “spring”
minus-squarenotabot@piefed.sociallinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up0·7 days agoIf you think “spring” is bad, go check how many different meanings there are for the word “set”.
minus-squarerenzev@lemmy.worldOPlinkfedilinkarrow-up0·7 days ago“off” is one my favourites. The alarm went OFF so we had to turn it OFF. It means the opposite of itself. “Sanction” is another example. Your actions were not sanctioned by us, so as retaliation we’re introducing sanctions against you.
minus-squaregnutrino@programming.devlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up1·6 days ago It means the opposite of itself. Fun fact: there’s a word for words like that, they’re called contronyms.
If you think “spring” is bad, go check how many different meanings there are for the word “set”.
“off” is one my favourites. The alarm went OFF so we had to turn it OFF. It means the opposite of itself.
“Sanction” is another example. Your actions were not sanctioned by us, so as retaliation we’re introducing sanctions against you.
Fun fact: there’s a word for words like that, they’re called contronyms.