Casa Jonsson

Contrary to what its title implies, this page is not (expressly) a place to learn about the quirks of my own use of language. It’s an archive of tidbits about language — only English, at this point — that I find interesting. They’re found objects, if you will, conversation pieces (pun intended).

All of the following entries are my own, except where attributed otherwise. I invite your submissions to this page; you’ll be given credit and assigned blame as appropriate.

NEWS FLASH: Some of these ideas are not as original as I thought they were.

You’re always welcome to contact me with comments or questions.

English reflexive-only verbs

There are only three verbs in the English language that can be used solely in reflexive constructions:

• absent (oneself), v.t.
• perjure (oneself), v.t.
• pride (oneself), v.t.

These verbs can only be used in sentences like, “She prided herself on her punctuality,” and, “I will absent myself from the proceedings.” It’s grammatically incorrect to say, “He prides me on my mastery of omphaloskepsis.”

Courtesy of Hector N. Urritibehéity, Ph.D.

English “autonyms”

Autonym is my term for self-descriptive words, excluding onomatopoeia. A rule of thumb for testing potential autonyms is to use them in one of the following sentences, as appropriate:

Nouns

“The word ‘noun’ is a(n) noun,” or “The word ‘noun’ exhibits noun.”

Verbs

“The word ‘verb’ verbs.”

Adjectives

“The word ‘adjective’ is adjective.”

Here are some autonyms I’ve come across.

purple, adj.

“… To delete any purple adjectives” — Ayn Rand, Preface to 50th Anniversary Edition of Anthem.

magniloquent, adj.

Also GRANDILOQUENT.

terse, adj.

self-descriptive, adj.

Also SELF-REFERENTIAL.

autonym, autonymy, n.

word, n.

noun, n.

adjectival, adj.

“verb,” v. [sic]

Have you never heard of “verbing”?

cliché, adj.

This is stretching a bit, but I frequently hear about expressions being cliché (perhaps I’m not taking a hint). Interestingly, ‘cliché’ has an onomatopoetic origin!

cool, adj.

As in, “ ‘Cool’ is perennially chic slang.”

sesquipedalian, n.

Courtesy of Araceli Jonsson.

this, pron.

Consider: “ ‘That’ has as many letters as ‘this’.”

four-syllable, adj.

terminus technicus, n.

The Latin for ‘technical term’ is itself a technical term, because almost nobody but philosophers uses it.

trochee, n.

mispelled [sic], adj.

Courtesy of Greg Hewlett.

olde, adj.

Courtesy of Greg Hewlett.

English (as in language), adj.

Courtesy of Greg Hewlett.

understood, adj.

Also COMMUNICATION, n. Courtesy of Greg Hewlett.

TLA (three-letter acronym), n.

Brobdingnagian, adj.

Courtesy of Greg Hewlett.

shibboleth, n.

On account of the origin of this term in Jdg 12:5f.

drawl, v.i.

“lithp”, v.i.

written, adj.

Also WRITABLE, adj. Courtesy of L. Scott Johnson.

abbr., adj.

Courtesy of L. Scott Johnson.

English “contranyms”

I need a better word to describe the antonym of ‘autonym’ — I invite your suggestions. These curiosities are words that seem to describe themselves as poorly as possible, or that are autonyms for their own antitheses.

pulchritudinous, adj.

monosyllabic, adj.

perspicuous, adj.

This word properly doesn’t belong in this list, but I put it here because I’ve always confused ‘perspicuous’ and ‘perspicacious’.

“noun,” v. [sic]

“verbing,” n.

iamb, n.

vocable, n.

Courtesy of Greg Hewlett.

plebeian, adj.

highfalutin, adj.

Courtesy of L. Scott Johnson.

English strange attractors of synonymy

In these curiosities, the reference is compound and convoluted.

synonym, n., and antonym, n.

‘Synonym’ and ‘antonym’ are antonyms.

left-to-right, adj., and right-to-left, adj.

The autonym ‘left-to-right’, translated — if it were possible — into a Semitic language such as Arabic, would be a contranym instead of an autonym. The contranym ‘right-to-left’, translated into Arabic, would be an autonym instead of a contranym.