Comment on A disgruntled federal employee's 1980s desk calendar (2018)parentComments−bee_rider2yThere should be a word for these back-formations that specifically come from cutting this prefix looking thing off the front of a word to invert their meaning.Disgruntled -> gruntledUnhinged -> hinged−sour-taste2yWhat if we called them k formations, by applying the same rule we're trying to describe to the word backfoations?Overwhelmed/underwhelmed -> whelmed Discombobulated -> combobulate Disghust -> ghust−jprete2yOT, but I looked up "whelmed" in after reading your comment and...we never really needed "overwhelmed" at all. Just plain "whelmed" seems bad enough.−ajcp2yI use "whelming" almost daily to denote something that I or the person I'm talking to expect to be over/underwhelming, but turns out not to be.Them: "How'd you like that new burger joint Bad Jimmies? I heard it's amazing!"Me: "Not bad, but I found their burgers to be...[0] whelming."0. The pregnant pause-for-effect is very important here, since it makes even the use of "whelming" a whelming experience.−worstspotgain2yhttps://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/how-i-met-my-wife...−aj72yInadvertently -> advertently
Comments
There should be a word for these back-formations that specifically come from cutting this prefix looking thing off the front of a word to invert their meaning.
Disgruntled -> gruntled
Unhinged -> hinged
What if we called them k formations, by applying the same rule we're trying to describe to the word backfoations?
Overwhelmed/underwhelmed -> whelmed Discombobulated -> combobulate Disghust -> ghust
OT, but I looked up "whelmed" in after reading your comment and...we never really needed "overwhelmed" at all. Just plain "whelmed" seems bad enough.
I use "whelming" almost daily to denote something that I or the person I'm talking to expect to be over/underwhelming, but turns out not to be.
Them: "How'd you like that new burger joint Bad Jimmies? I heard it's amazing!"
Me: "Not bad, but I found their burgers to be...[0] whelming."
0. The pregnant pause-for-effect is very important here, since it makes even the use of "whelming" a whelming experience.
https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/how-i-met-my-wife...
Inadvertently -> advertently