Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uchinews!ellis!deb5
From: deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: confusing words in English
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: midway.uchicago.edu
Message-ID: <DAwu19.6Bz@midway.uchicago.edu>
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Reply-To: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: The University of Chicago
References: <1995Jun22.092438.36578@ucl.ac.uk> <3spob5$7s4@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> <3srrt2$62d@viking.mpr.ca>
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 01:12:44 GMT
Lines: 21

In article <3srrt2$62d@viking.mpr.ca>,
Grzegorz Kondrak <kondrak@newshost> wrote:

>Some words in English strike me as confusing. For example, the
>adjective 'light' means both 'not heavy' and 'not dark', two concepts
>which are totally different for me. Another example is 'hot' meaning both
>'not cold' and 'spicy'. I wonder if native speakers ever notice such
>ambiguity.

	I, for one, do.  I can't really think of many ambiguous cases 
involving "light".  I suppose "a light shirt" is such a case, but "light-
coloured" or "light in colour" and "summer" or "light cotton/rayon/etc." 
are simple and clear circumlocutions.  Now "hot" applied to food is a real
problem; I constantly hear people saying things like "It's hot.  Not spicy
hot, just hot hot."


-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
