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Re: Two different opposites

From:Tristan McLeay <zsau@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 14, 2004, 2:25
On Tue, 13 Jan 2004, Ray Brown wrote:

> On Tuesday, January 13, 2004, at 01:37 AM, Tristan McLeay wrote: > > > On Mon, 12 Jan 2004, Joe wrote: > [snip] > > > For instance, we have 'welcome' 'unwelcome', and 'neither welcome nor > >> unwelcome'. I suggest a new prefix 'en-'. For instance 'enfast' means > >> 'not fast', but 'unfast' means 'slow'. > > > > Well, en- already has a meaning so I'm not sure that that's such a good > > idea, > > You're being polite. en- is a very bad idea if you want to create a new > English prefix with the idea of "not".
:)
> > (Personally, enfast to > > me sound like you're making something fast, though, perhaps, that implies > > that it's not yet fast.) > > Is that 'fast' in the sense of "firm, fixed" or of "quick, rapid"? (I > assume not the sense "refrain from food")
Well, the default meaning for 'fast' for me (as an adj) is 'quick, rapid', so unless context suggested otherwise, I'd probably assume that. I wouldn't coin it thus, though; if I had need to, I would undoubtedly chose 'enfasten', though whether I'd desire to pronounce the -t- or not, I'm not sure (being a coinage, but on the other hand having many similar Ften words with a silent t (F=unvoiced fricative). -- Tristan

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Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>