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From: krs@amdahl.UUCP (Kris Stephens)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: Re: words and their opposites
Message-ID: <1523@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-May-85 00:37:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdahl.1523
Posted: Wed May 15 00:37:21 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 16-May-85 04:26:53 EDT
References: <2139@decwrl.UUCP> <394@rtech.ARPA>
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
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> > 	What's the difference between LOOSENing your shoelaces and
> > 	UNLOOSENING your shoelaces ?

I daresay "unloosening" bothers me as much as "irregardless".
("Not without regard"??  Reminds me of "I could care less".)  Yes, the
American Heritage Dictionary lists "unloose(n)", but I shiver whenever I
hear or read it. (Brrr.)  They do, however, refer to "irregardless" as
"Nonstandard" and "Never to be used other than with humorous intent".

> > 	We chop trees DOWN and then we chop them UP !

> "THE HOUSE BURNED DOWN" means exactly the same thing as
> "THE HOUSE BURNED UP."

Right!  Flammable items are inflammable, 'though I suspect "inflammable"
comes from "enflame" and should probably have been spelled "enflammable".

My mother's favorite mix-up is "reckless" and "wreckless", as auditory
opposites.  She'd gladly be accused of wreckless driving.

-- 
Kris Stephens     (408-746-6047)                 {whatever}!amdahl!krs
     [The opinions expressed above are mine, solely, and do not    ]
     [necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Amdahl Corp. ]