<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">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?<div><br></div><div>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.;)</div><div><br></div><div>And, for the record, I usually care more than I let on.<br><br><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><div style="line-height: normal;"><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Regards,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dan</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Sample my Kindle books at:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://author.to/DanUst">http://author.to/DanUst</a></span></p></div></div></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"></div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br>On Jul 21, 2019, at 7:30 AM, William Flynn Wallace <<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com">foozler83@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Which might lead some to ask the snarky question: Where do you waste </span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">> time then? ;)</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">I could care less. :P</span><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">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'</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">bill w</span></div></div></div></blockquote></div></body></html>