Sara Rosinsky • Shiny Red Copy
  • home
  • about sara
  • speaking
  • blog
  • portfolio
    • social media
    • articles
    • dandy candy
    • freezer treats
    • money matters
    • online ordering
    • raise a glass
    • fundraising
    • hair we go
    • education
    • branding
    • thinq smart
    • how entertaining
    • spread the word
    • a few faves
    • sears screed
  • kudos
  • unflubbify
  • freebies
    • resources
    • word search
  • store
  • contact sara
  • home
  • about sara
  • speaking
  • blog
  • portfolio
    • social media
    • articles
    • dandy candy
    • freezer treats
    • money matters
    • online ordering
    • raise a glass
    • fundraising
    • hair we go
    • education
    • branding
    • thinq smart
    • how entertaining
    • spread the word
    • a few faves
    • sears screed
  • kudos
  • unflubbify
  • freebies
    • resources
    • word search
  • store
  • contact sara
  Sara Rosinsky • Shiny Red Copy

sara's Shiny red blog

English can be two-faced.

4/7/2021

11 Comments

 
Picture
Someone from Mumbai just sent me a message on LinkedIn. He wanted to show me a writing error he’d spotted. The allegedly misused word was oversight.

Uh-oh, I thought: Janus word.

I read the problematic sentence, and sure enough—there was no error. Just English being wacky again.

I explained that oversight has two different meanings that are essentially opposites. You can make an oversight if you’re sloppy (overlooking something); conversely, if you’re extremely reliable, you might be granted the oversight (supervision) of an entire department or company. So you might say there’s a bad kind of oversight and a good one.

Thanks, English.

Similarly, in the springtime, you might seed a garden (place seeds in the soil). But after you grow a cucumber, you might want to seed it (remove the seeds) before you cut it up for your salad.

You might dust your tiramisu with cocoa powder (that is, add a dusting of it); you might also need to dust your furniture (remove the dust).

If you permit some sort of behavior, you sanction it. But if you don’t permit it, you might threaten sanctions as punishment.

It’s no wonder these types of words are called Janus words. The Roman god Janus had two faces, as in the statue above. (Side note—January is named after Janus, too.)

These words are also called contronyms and auto-antonyms and a few other terms you can learn about on Wikipedia and elsewhere.

If you peruse an article about Janus words, that means you examine it very attentively. But it also means that you just skim it in a cursory manner.

Do you have any favorite Janus words?

11 Comments

    Archives

    May 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    May 2024
    December 2023
    September 2023
    March 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All
    Advertising & Marketing
    Books
    Boston
    Colorado
    Comedy
    Creativity
    Design
    Dogs
    Etymology
    Florida
    Freelancing
    Language
    My Life
    Other
    Podcasts & Audiobooks
    Punctuation
    Skepticism
    Travel
    Typography
    Words
    Writing

    RSS Feed


​Copyright © 2024