So here I was on my river walk last week, all

Surrounded by

The world spoke to me,

in multiple genres. There were warnings,

promises,

exhortations,

There was, however no agreement on how to categorize me….

although the world seemed to understand that I thrive on learning about things:

And then there was mystery,

tapping right into my thoughts – how do we understand what something means? A quest that is particularly tricky for someone who learns a new language, as I did with English? How do you deal with a vocabulary where things mean the same thing even if they are pronounced or spelled (farther/further) differently, or, worse, where things can mean opposites, in one and the same word?

Can you generate some of those contronyms, also known as Janus words, like the double-faced Roman God who stood over entries and exits of the Roman Empire?

Here are some examples: (all from Merriam-Webster.)

Oversight: you can have it all in plain view, or you may have missed to spot something.

To cleave: something adheres to something else closely, or is cut off violently with a cleaver.

To dust: taking the dust away with a cloth or duster, or sprinkle it onto a surface, like powdered sugar or snow or other light substances.

To sanction – allowing something, or penalizing something.

To drop – you might drop something from your speech or from your life, but you also might drop a new album, adding rather something than letting go.

To peruse – originally it meant to pay detailed, specific attention to what you read, but it now also means to just skim over.

You get the idea. Usually we have no trouble whatsoever to discern which meaning of the word is intended, it all depends on the context and we are usually aware of that. Oversight committee, for example, is never mistaken to mean it is the congressional body instructed to make mistakes. Context rules.

But think of words that develop in spoken language outside your usual realm, amongst younger people for example. We are probably all of the generation that understood that cool can mean cool or can mean hot. “That’s a hot blogger! Yeah, she’s cool!”

I did a double take, though, when I started to hear the word sick bandied about, which turned out to mean really good. If you are not around those who develop new meanings, it’s hard even if you hear stuff in the right context.

Oh well, she

and

(s,) referring to the closing of her rain jacket, not to shutting her mouth or to the amount of insight gained. Had to keep the list of 75 contronyms dry.

Photographs from a single walk around the esplanade at the Willamette river last week.

Music pretends that words are dead.

Or that you can have songs without words…..

I know, all over the map. I do have the last word, remember?