331 Comments
User's avatar
тна Return to thread
el gato malo's avatar

seems like there are lots of words without antonyms.

what, for example, is the antonym of "carrot" or "nematode."

Expand full comment
Ryan Gardner's avatar

What I want to know is how did nematode emerge in your brain as an example?!...lol...of all things

Expand full comment
Ryan Gardner's avatar

Dang it I meant synonym

Expand full comment
Pi Guy's avatar

Meh. Same thing.

Expand full comment
Ryan Gardner's avatar

If they keep censoring long enough the meanings will be inverse...or worse no antonym or synonym.

To eliminate nuance gives the ruler the power of the word to make the rules on what can and can not be said; imprecision is precisely how the totalitarian uses words to name the enemy

Expand full comment
Pi Guy's avatar

тАЬDonтАЩt you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime* literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgottenтАжтАЭ

- Syme talking to Winston. 1984, George Orwell

So things are pretty much Double Plus Ungood.

Expand full comment
Ryan Gardner's avatar

Exactly

Expand full comment
SoloD's avatar

For example *gender*.

A long time ago it referred to the tense of a noun: actor / actress, steward / stewardess ... uzw.

Expand full comment
Ryan Gardner's avatar

Bingo

Expand full comment
Ryan Gardner's avatar

Well I guess unique too

Expand full comment
Ryan Gardner's avatar

Take out the animal kingdom and food.

No fun!

Expand full comment