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For me it is Mondegreen: which is a misheard lyric, word or phrase that becomes popular and gives it new meaning.

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[-] jaycifer@lemmy.world 31 points 2 weeks ago

I’m a big fan of contronyms, words with two opposite meanings. I first learned looking for a word to describe the change in “literally” from meaning, well, the literal meaning of something to also the figurative meaning.

Another good one is dust. You can dust your house to remove dust, but you can also dust a cake with powdered sugar.

[-] Crix@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

You would like german. The word "umfahren" can mean to drive around something or it can mean to run something over, depending on how you pronounce it.

[-] davidgro@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I wonder if there's a word for when a whole phrase has two opposite meanings without one of the words in it being a contronym (or using sarcasm, etc)

The example that made me think of this is a song lyric:

And she's dancing like she's never danced before!

There's the intended meaning of better than ever... But if I were to dance it would also be like I've never danced before.

[-] fool@programming.dev 5 points 2 weeks ago

Also known as autoantonym (antonym of itself). e.g. "Because of my oversight, my project is finished."

Did the person make an oversight, i.e. a mistake, and now his project is done for?

Or did the person's well-adjusted oversight, i.e. management, help complete his project on time?

[-] isyasad@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Are they called shelled peanuts because they have their shells? or are they called shelled peanuts because they've been shelled, unshelling them? It's literally ironic...

[-] Hugin@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I'm a fan of cleave which can mean to split in two or to stick together. Each meaning has a different root.

[-] Jax@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Ah, I know what to call skibidi now.

this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
141 points (94.3% liked)

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