Re: (In)flammable (WAS: Early Conlang Archives)

FFlores wrote:
<snip>

> The inflammable=fammable issue is one of those curious
> "contradictions" of the English language that I've heard of.
> The other one is "burn down" = (more or less) "burn up" (I
> know they have different connotations, but the meaning is
> actually the same!)
The situation is simplified in colloquial use:  as a metaphor for anger, one
uses "burn up" but not (to my knowledge, anyway)
"burn down".  As in:  That really burns me up!  (= that really makes me angry).
But not *That really burns me down.
I wonder why it works that way. Could it have something to do with  "down"
having a connotation of calming  or sadness
which doesn't match the idea of anger, whereas "up" has a connotation of
activity, which goes better with the idea of anger?

<snip>

Dan Sulani
--
 likehsna  rtem  zuv  tikuhnuh  auag  inuvuz  vaka'a.

 A  word  is  an  awesome  thing.