Wednesday, 29 September 2021

Negative bias.

Once we could be ruly, couth, pecunious
mayed, ept, gruntled and so on,
but now we can only be their opposites.


1 comment:

  1. WoflOctober 02, 2021


    This blog was written in jest. In fact, following :

    Once we could indeed have been ruly or pecunious (although I'm not sure I would want to have been ruly) https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=ruly
    https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=pecunious

    'Couth' was indeed a word. But it didn't mean the opposite of 'uncouth' (or anything like) and was replaced by 'could'. As the antonym of uncouth it is a back-formation of 1896:
    https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=couth

    On the other hand 'couthie' in Scots means 'kindly', 'comfortable' or 'snug'.

    Ept and gruntled are both back-formations coined in 1938:
    https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=ept
    https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gruntled

    While 'dismayed' was never an antonym of 'mayed' as the 'dis-' is an intensifier https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dismayed

    'Clement', however is a proper word, used, like 'inclement', to describe weather. Though curiously 'now is used only in negation and only of the weather.' It is of course a proper name, notably of several popes.

    https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=clement

    That link also sheds light on the naming of clementines.

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