[ExI] Putting a face with the name

[Dan TheBookMan]

I wonder if there’s a name for it. And I’m guessing other languages have it too. The terms enantiosemy and contronym seem to refer to the same word (not phrase?) having opposite meanings. The classic example is ‘cleave’ in English. But is there a term that refers to words and phrases that on one level seem like they should have opposed meanings, but actual mean the same thing?

By the way, it’s not English versus its users here. Rather, formal English would have those phrases mean the opposite, whereas North American colloquial dialects of English would have it mean the same. The problem arises when the formal standard is applied in a colloquial context. (I usually stick with the formal standard here to avoid a reader getting pulled out of the flow or a sidebar discussion like this. Not that I always mind the latter.;)

And, for the record, I usually care more than I let on.

Regards,

Dan
   Sample my Kindle books at:
http://author.to/DanUst

> On Jul 21, 2019, at 7:30 AM, William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Which might lead some to ask the snarky question: Where do you waste  
> > time then? ;)
> 
> I could care less. :P
> 
> An odddity in the English language (meaning the people who use it), where two opposite statements are taken by many to mean the same thing:  'could care less', 'could not care less'
> 
> bill w
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20190721/5b1c6ace/attachment.htm>