IdleRich
IdleRich
I heard someone today saying the phrase "one of a kind" which always fascinates me in that its meaning in general usage is that someone or something is unique. What it literally says is the exact opposite, I mean if there is a kind and a person is one of that kind then they are not unique are they? They are similar to (if not the same as) the other members of that kind.
Another one is "a poor workman blames his tools" - which is used to say that someone who complains about their equipment must be a poor workman. This is in fact the converse of what the phrase literally says. If A = poor workman and B = blames his tools then the phrase can be rendered A => B when people intend to say B => A.
Another is "the exception that proves the rule" which is a weird one, people use it when someone has shown a counter-example which defeats their argument to somehow claim that it makes their argument stronger, which is obviously bollocks. I think that comes from a misunderstanding of the word "prove" which is here being used in the old sense meaning to test to destruction. In other words this phrase has, over time, become corrupted to mean the exact opposite of what it did originally.
As for ambiguities I like that one when someone is described as "deceptively tall" - does that mean that someone is short but deceptively looks tall, or that someone is tall but deceptively so in that they look short? Well I looked it up and it seems there is no agreement, it could be either of those things.
I think bi-monthly is similar... does it mean twice a month or every two months?
So why do these ambiguities and outright contradictions persist. How did they come about and why? And what else is there out there?
Another one is "a poor workman blames his tools" - which is used to say that someone who complains about their equipment must be a poor workman. This is in fact the converse of what the phrase literally says. If A = poor workman and B = blames his tools then the phrase can be rendered A => B when people intend to say B => A.
Another is "the exception that proves the rule" which is a weird one, people use it when someone has shown a counter-example which defeats their argument to somehow claim that it makes their argument stronger, which is obviously bollocks. I think that comes from a misunderstanding of the word "prove" which is here being used in the old sense meaning to test to destruction. In other words this phrase has, over time, become corrupted to mean the exact opposite of what it did originally.
As for ambiguities I like that one when someone is described as "deceptively tall" - does that mean that someone is short but deceptively looks tall, or that someone is tall but deceptively so in that they look short? Well I looked it up and it seems there is no agreement, it could be either of those things.
I think bi-monthly is similar... does it mean twice a month or every two months?
So why do these ambiguities and outright contradictions persist. How did they come about and why? And what else is there out there?