this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
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These are called orphaned negatives and English has loads of them. A great article about them is here: https://stephenliddell.co.uk/2021/03/17/a-gruntled-look-at-orphan-negatives/
As a slight tangent, a similar peculiarity in English (which I don't know of a name for) is where you can use the opposite words for similar actions, e.g. you can chop a tree down and then chop it up.
Not exactly the same, but that also reminds me of autoantonyms or Janus words. The word dust can be used to describe adding dust or removing dust, for example.