For me it is Mondegreen: which is a misheard lyric, word or phrase that becomes popular and gives it new meaning.
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.
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…
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?
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.
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.
I’m a fan of cleave which can mean to split in two or to stick together. Each meaning has a different root.
Ah, I know what to call skibidi now.
Malaphors are my faves. Like saying "we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it*
My favorite lately: “you don’t want to get two birds stoned at once”
I’m a glass half-assed kind of guy.
Thank you! I’ve been trying to think of this word for years.
“Aptronym”
When someone’s name is fitting for their occupation.
Tiger Woods (like the gold club)
Usain Bolt (who bolts quickly)
Etc.
Also whatever this is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo
Is this the same or different to nominative determinism?
Tim Apple.
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Antimetaboles, maybe? It’s when you switch two words for poetic effect.
When the goin’ gets tough, the tough get goin’!
It’s fun to sound pseudo-poetic by trying to make one on the fly. Easier than a limerick
In this world, you either have bot aim, or you have aimbot.
It’s better to cum in the sink than to sink in the cum
Shakespeare was lowbrow too, ok
Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends
The Sphinx : Your temper is very quick, my friend. But until you learn to master your rage…
Mr. Furious : …your rage will become your master? That’s what you were going to say. Right? Right?
The Sphinx : Not necessarily.
Lol Shakespeare the OG rapper:
From Family Guy: I’m not saying she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messing with any…who isn’t she messing with?
Dig Golder?
Someone mentioned before that the line used in that family guy scene is an actual existing rap lyric. My guess is ‘old [explicative]’
I know how the original song goes lol. The radio edit had “messing with no broke, broke.” Which I thought made no sense. So much of hip hop is improved by listening uncensored.
I enjoy “portmanteau”: the combination of two words to get a new meaning.“Brunch”
Malapropisms are great, too. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious”
If you like malapropisms, you’ll love Martha Plimpton’s character in Raising Hope, Virginia. Procrasturbate and vaginacologist are a couple favorites.
Bonus: her middle name is Slims. Virginia Slims Chance
Part of what makes Klein’s Don’t Starve game so quirky and fun is the rampant use of creatures that are portmanteau’s of other creatures.
That’s a new one. I didn’t know about malapropisms. There is a daily wordle style game I cannot think of what it is called for portmanteaus.
I’m a fan of semantic satiation, wherein you hear something so much that it doesn’t sound like a real word anymore.
Say it with me, boys:
Squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel.
Thanks, I hate it!
Looks like someone also watched that Vsauce video 🙃
No, he calls it an Emordnilap. I did see it but I knew of Semordnilaps for awhile now. I DO like Micheal Steven’s take on all of his linguistic subjects. Dude is a genius educator.
Edit: lmao I chuckled at your username.
His educated insanity is inspiring.
Heheheh I’m glad you liked the username.
Janus words
After my alarm went off, I turned it off. (Off with 66 definitions, one is bound to be an antonym).
SpoonerismsMalaprops are when a character chooses a similar sounding but wrong word for comedic effect.“She wrote me one of those John Deere letters…”
I always knew it as transposing the beginning sounds of two words like: fons of tun instead of tons of fun.
You’re right. I’m thinking of malaprop.
Not necessarily for comedic effect, and it’s for swapping consonants.
So like, when you fly over the ocean?
Another is Tautonyms: a word made of two of the same words eg. Yo-yo or AT-AT.
Cancan and gogo?
