My favorite contranym is “strike.” On the one hand, you pound stuff with a stick, and in bowling it means you’ve knocked all the pins/skittles down. On the other, in american baseball, it means you have failed to whack the ball with your bat. So it’s kind of hit or miss.
I'm in America so I only watch this show through these clips. When Stephen suddenly went missing as the host I was a little worried but I have to say Sandi made the transition seamless! Very funny and intelligent, she's a wonderful successor overall!
She is absolutely marvelous. She hosted the news quiz on radio for years (the original audio only version of HIGNFY), and was absolutely hysterical on it. I'm partially telling you this because it's relevant to your comment, but also because you're American and so may not be aware of radio 4, and it's an excuse for me to bring it up. They have podcasts ;)
I think it is ironic that the reason Steven disappeared is because he moved to America. Where you are. Sorry Stephen with a PH because he is slightly acidic.
You are appointed to an office/job/task. Disappointed instead of meaning taken away from that position means you failed in that position/task somewhat. Functions, but doesn't mean the opposite as some words mean.
Inflammable and flammable used to have slightly different meanings, but being so similar they both just merged into one. Inflammable comes from the same root as inflame(to catch light or become angered easily). Flammable comes from flame and just means it'll burn. Effectively the difference was that all things that were inflammable were flammable(if it catches light easily then of course it burns), but some things that are flammable might not be inflammable(coal is a good example, it burns well but needs to be around 300°C to ignite which is hard to get accidentally). Obviously whole thing is moot with the words converging, but it's cool etymology.
@@lancer525 The "in-" prefix in "inflammable" is nothing to do with a negative sense (such as in words like "insufferable"), but a sense meaning "in" or "on", presumably as in "on fire".
@Aslyn While I agree they would’ve been good choices, I feel they’d only be good choices if it was ALL of them on a rotating basis. Sandi stands on her own! 😊
Shelled. Does it mean it has a shell? Or that it has been shelled, and therefor has no shell? I have sent several strongly worded letters to pistachio manufacturers over this...
oh damn you reminded me. Washable glue. Does it mean that the glued item can be washed without the glue breaking down? Or does it mean that the glue can be freely washed away if you mistakenly use it were you shouldn't have. We may never know
Oddly enough, in Italian there is disgustoso (disgusting) and gustoso (delicious/good). So I suspect the Latin language has something to do with it, as with tons of English words. This applies only to food, though, as "gusto" in Italian means "taste".
@@sammarshall9504 In Spanish, "gusto" means both "taste" (both noun and verb) and "to like." And we have the word "disgusta/disgusto," but it doesn't mean "disgust," it means "dislike."
We have a similar situation in Dutch with flammable/inflammable. We use 'ontvlambaar', which literally seems to mean something can't 'catch flames' but it really means that something can catch on fire. This happens to many words in Dutch, like waking up and breakfast which are 'ontwaken' and 'ontbijten'. If you start to think about these words it means to 'unwake' and 'unbite' yet they mean 'to wake' and 'to bite'. It's all a bit confusing when you start digging into language, but that's what makes it beautiful. I'm quite happy there's etymologists working hard for us to be able to make sense of all of it. The reasons behind why these words work the way they do is a bit too much for me to explain in a short youtube comment, but it's worth a read if you're Dutch :)
I love these clips because there are more snippets of information to make me look cool and clever in less than 5 minutes than I can find in a whole evening of the rest of TH-cam.
When people are gruntled it doesn't matter because they are okay. So no one talks about it. Whelmed is just overwhelmed but not as bad. I'm not overwhelmed, I'm just a little whelmed.
But "gruntled" doesn't sound any less disgruntled to me. And "whelmed" is a little special, because you can be "underwhelmed" as well. Underwhelmed or overwhelmed, just not plain whelmed.
You hardly umfart in Germany, it’s usually very loud because of the crauts and you speed full blast to make it home on time. Kein slappen umfarth zu Bushen. Any more help feel free to ask .
How I Met Your Mother did a great gag in the first season where Ted was trying to break up with a girl on her birthday and he knew dragging it out would not be virtuous, so his reasoning was that he just knew she wasn't "the one" but the answer as to why was ineffable. "I'm not effable?" she replied. It was brilliant.
Not for me. When someone says "Oh. My god. I literally died," I'd have to respond with "Then why are you still here, torturing me and my ears with your rape of the English language?"
"Not for me" yes but you don't get to choose. When you talk about meaning of language, you're referring either to common usage or dictionary definition, neither of which agrees with you.
+Luke Wren Well, the more loudly we yell about this online, the more likely people will take notice. If enough people go back to only using the original definition, it can be changed back, since that's how languages work.
As an American in India I heard a term that I’d never heard before but makes perfect sense as the opposite of postpone: “prepone” As in “Can we prepone our meeting by 30 minutes?” Genius, and so much better than “Can we move up our meeting by 30 minutes?” which for me always requires the response “You mean have it earlier?”
I'm an american, I think I missed my exit, I've watched about five clips from the show, I don't even know what it is. It's great. Love it. Don't know I got here.
@@gomongio It's just an anagram of her name, and happens to be rather amusing given it's complexity. I'm sure there's many amusing anagrams of what you describe as "leftists" (does that make you a rightist? I'd be careful- it's inches away from being "right tit"), lets look a few up, shall we? might be a fun game to pass a bit of time during lockdown!
did anyone else notice when Adam said "Antonym" Alan leant in and squinted at Adam like he had an ant on him. Unbelievable stuff, i'm surprised i didn't miss it.
I'm pretty sure whelmed is the official word for hotboxed, Or something similar to that. I remember whelmed actually being in the dictionary, Despite it not being the word I was looking for.
Speaking of orphaned negatives: English uses the Germanic word "harm" and has the adjectives "harmless" and "harmful". In German and Norwegian "harmlos/harmløs" are orphaned negatives. Instead of "harmful" they say "schädlich/skadelig" which both come from the Germanic word "skapon". The nouns are "Schaden/skade". The word "Harm" was used in German but it meant more of a mental damage like a depression or a trauma. It fell out of favour and wasn't used outside of poetry for at least two centuries.
How about ininflammable? It's the antonym in French of inflammable and one of my favourite absurdities of language. I suppose that you don't use it in English, I can't blame you!😉
I remember when I was a kid I was always confused by a street sign that told people there was "no access for inflamable goods". Thought it was an odd request until I learned what it really meant.
Sara's effable joke was solid gold
I choked on my burrito
@@erickpederson4480 Really? I have never been able to bend forward that far!
I thought it was a bit weak..
It was a shit joke
Sara is quite effable ;-)
To dust can mean to remove a layer of dust or to add one.
Anybody? No? Dust.
Bret Terry high in fat? Low in fat? Dust!
Alex George d
its also Norwegian for jerk
God English is a trip
Overwhelmed, underwhelmed, why isn't anyone just whelmed?
Things I've learned from 10 Things I Hate About You.
While you don't sound disgruntled, I feel you are far from being gruntled.
martin short is
Because it's the presumed state of being.
It's not something you'd feel the need to announce.
Don''t know about anyone else, but I'm whelmed, traught and feeling the aster!
"Explosif"
"I beg your pardon?"
"I was just reading!"
English be fucked
I had to rewatch it so many times, so funny!!
Pardon my French
Contronym: left. It means gone, but also means remained.
in what context does it mean remained?
@@tirobo I bought ten apples, but I ate seven of them. Only three apples were left for you.
@@tirobo The party commissar was left behind when everyone else left the sinking submarine.
Thought this was an EU joke at first
@@rightupmyalley617 I also thought it was a clever joke.
FUNERAL = REAL FUN
Who said funerals aren't fun‽
"You really going to down that pint? Brian's only been gone a week!"
"I'm sure it's what he would've wanted..."
Learn..FU
Fuel ran
15schaa 15schaa N U Feral
3:36 Acaster taught me that volunteer firemen aren't allowed to put out fires. However they are permitted to pick up litter.
They're also allowed to play a nice game of squirt
@@nat2057 Good squirt this year
yesn't
Did he just use a recent meme?
Olly were you born in 2000?
I think he meant "yecent" because of nocent. So to answer your question: Yesn't.
I petition we say yecent instead of innocent now.
No, I was born before 2000. but I didn't expect Allan to use current memes (Considering when this was filmed). But maybe it was just coincidental.
Olly He said "yescent", not "yesn't".
My favorite contranym is “strike.” On the one hand, you pound stuff with a stick, and in bowling it means you’ve knocked all the pins/skittles down. On the other, in american baseball, it means you have failed to whack the ball with your bat.
So it’s kind of hit or miss.
It could be anything from passive resistance to an act of war.
You strike OUT in baseball.
Bill
Money, or something you have to pay
I see what you did there. Strike is literally hit or miss lol
I'm in America so I only watch this show through these clips. When Stephen suddenly went missing as the host I was a little worried but I have to say Sandi made the transition seamless! Very funny and intelligent, she's a wonderful successor overall!
She is absolutely marvelous. She hosted the news quiz on radio for years (the original audio only version of HIGNFY), and was absolutely hysterical on it.
I'm partially telling you this because it's relevant to your comment, but also because you're American and so may not be aware of radio 4, and it's an excuse for me to bring it up. They have podcasts ;)
I think it is ironic that the reason Steven disappeared is because he moved to America. Where you are. Sorry Stephen with a PH because he is slightly acidic.
You clearly don't know how PH works... Anything below a 7 becomes acidic but otherwise its neutral at 7 and above its an alkali
Steven with a PH is PHTEVEN.
My other joke was: Steven with a PH is all about that base, 'bout that base.
Eric Burkheimer Hugh Laurie would have been fitting.
From 2:20 onwards Sarah Pascoe and Jimmy Carr starts making noises that made my flatmate very confused as to what i was watching xD
Nikolai Leerskov hahahaha good catch
Ahahahahaha
Flatmate ? Pump him up !
+Nikolai Leerskov
That would be Pascoe Carr porn.
"Yes, yes, behind, that's nice.." - Sara Pascoe (2:23 - 2:27 - and I know she probably said 'to hide' not 'behind' but still...)
Disappointed - you never tell anyone "I am very appointed in you."
You are appointed to an office/job/task. Disappointed instead of meaning taken away from that position means you failed in that position/task somewhat. Functions, but doesn't mean the opposite as some words mean.
"I'll dismember you" is horrifying, but "I'll member you" sounds sexual.
@@SmashPortal so remember is putting it back after you've cut it off and had your way with it?
If it wasn't for disappointment, I wouldn't have any appointments
@@eolsunder Yes, I am well aware of the definitions, thank you very much.
Inflammable and flammable used to have slightly different meanings, but being so similar they both just merged into one.
Inflammable comes from the same root as inflame(to catch light or become angered easily).
Flammable comes from flame and just means it'll burn.
Effectively the difference was that all things that were inflammable were flammable(if it catches light easily then of course it burns), but some things that are flammable might not be inflammable(coal is a good example, it burns well but needs to be around 300°C to ignite which is hard to get accidentally).
Obviously whole thing is moot with the words converging, but it's cool etymology.
I don't know about that flammable-inflammable thing. Does it flam, or doesn't it flam? Either the thing flams, or it doesn't.
@@lancer525 The "in-" prefix in "inflammable" is nothing to do with a negative sense (such as in words like "insufferable"), but a sense meaning "in" or "on", presumably as in "on fire".
@@willch.2259like "interred" or "involved"... or "inbred".
I love Ms. Toksvig. They honestly couldn’t have gotten a better replacement for Stephen Fry than her. Superb.
@Aslyn While I agree they would’ve been good choices, I feel they’d only be good choices if it was ALL of them on a rotating basis. Sandi stands on her own! 😊
Possibly someone from the local mortuary !
Sandi is awful. Fry is irreplaceable
Shelled. Does it mean it has a shell? Or that it has been shelled, and therefor has no shell? I have sent several strongly worded letters to pistachio manufacturers over this...
oh damn you reminded me. Washable glue. Does it mean that the glued item can be washed without the glue breaking down? Or does it mean that the glue can be freely washed away if you mistakenly use it were you shouldn't have.
We may never know
In artillery regiments, it means that it has been provided with shells, usually against its will
On D-Day,the soldiers were told there’d be shells on the beach and they thought;”Oooh,that’ll be nice!
I think it means your being bombarded with pistachios
Likewise hulled.
Alan said “dis dane!” And pointed to Sandi, who is Danish. Brilliant
🤦♂️
Billy Crockett omg really. Didn’t notice without your 738474 IQ
But it was Jimmy Carr that made the joke, Alan, as ever, just repeated it like a 6 year old desperate for attention. Honestly, can't stand Alan Davies
Wanderer - she's half Danish.
@@limpfishyes probably shouldn't watch qi then.... hes in quite a few episodes
How is "customer" an antigram? "Customer" and "store scum" are synonymous, surely?
Gilmaris
Only when you're working in the store.
Customers dear. The anagram of Customer would be Store Cum, and who wants to buy that!
and what is a store without customers
@@Swagmittens Pleasant
@@Swagmittens The best time to pick up that erectile disfunction medecine?
Disgusting
Once told granny her food was "gusting" thinking I was being clever... she misheard...
Oddly enough, in Italian there is disgustoso (disgusting) and gustoso (delicious/good). So I suspect the Latin language has something to do with it, as with tons of English words. This applies only to food, though, as "gusto" in Italian means "taste".
@@sammarshall9504 In Spanish, "gusto" means both "taste" (both noun and verb) and "to like." And we have the word "disgusta/disgusto," but it doesn't mean "disgust," it means "dislike."
"gust" means "taste" in romanian "gustos" means "tasty"
@@billyeveryteen7328, @Sam Marshall. Great stuff. Thanks
I love all the Latin languages coming in and showing their Latin roots.
Do you think Lemony Snicket knows about the 'a volunteer fireman' / 'I never run to a flame' thing? It sounds like something he'd know.
Haven't heard that name in a while
3:05 "The opposite of a gram"
His delivery is just gold.
We have a similar situation in Dutch with flammable/inflammable. We use 'ontvlambaar', which literally seems to mean something can't 'catch flames' but it really means that something can catch on fire. This happens to many words in Dutch, like waking up and breakfast which are 'ontwaken' and 'ontbijten'. If you start to think about these words it means to 'unwake' and 'unbite' yet they mean 'to wake' and 'to bite'. It's all a bit confusing when you start digging into language, but that's what makes it beautiful. I'm quite happy there's etymologists working hard for us to be able to make sense of all of it.
The reasons behind why these words work the way they do is a bit too much for me to explain in a short youtube comment, but it's worth a read if you're Dutch :)
1:08 yesn't
Tom Lees Alan Davied meme lord confirmed.
Alan is so spot on with his retail remark. I absolutely stand behind that :D
I love these clips because there are more snippets of information to make me look cool and clever in less than 5 minutes than I can find in a whole evening of the rest of TH-cam.
People are always disgruntled, never gruntled
Moxy Fruvous and dishevelled - never shevelled
gruntled sounds like it should be an antonym XD
and we can be overwhelmed but not just whelmed
When people are gruntled it doesn't matter because they are okay. So no one talks about it.
Whelmed is just overwhelmed but not as bad.
I'm not overwhelmed, I'm just a little whelmed.
But "gruntled" doesn't sound any less disgruntled to me.
And "whelmed" is a little special, because you can be "underwhelmed" as well. Underwhelmed or overwhelmed, just not plain whelmed.
In German we use "umfahren" both for "to run over" and "to drive around", but it only looks the same in a few grammatical cases
Like, when talking about France?
@@chaoswarriorbr seems like they miss getting run over enough to import muslims willing to do that to them
@@illdeletethismusic Follow your own username's advice.
You hardly umfart in Germany, it’s usually very loud because of the crauts and you speed full blast to make it home on time.
Kein slappen umfarth zu Bushen.
Any more help feel free to ask .
I wonder how many of those grammatical cases have gotten someone killed?
Of course people don't say effable, it literally means "able to be described in words" so wouldn't you JUST SAY THE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE THING
"My vacation was just effable!"
"Go on..."
Broken Wave Change vacation with date and it could work....
Most effable things I think you'd just cut the chat and get down to business with innit
If I were feeling lazy, it'd be a lot easier to describe something as effable than to actually follow through and eff it
Ah, but what if the only word to describe it is ‘effable’
I had to have it pointed out to me XD
Sandi straight up murdered him
Cool dragon curve!
Ohh, I do love the English language sometimes.
tough
trough
though
thought
through
thorough
Slough
Loughborough
@@SSC0002 is that a "I love Lucy" reference?
@@mozzinator no sorry idk what that is
@@SSC0002
My english nemesis. Best in class, will never manage to remember them.
Sanction - can mean to punish, and also to permit
QI lives up to their name... always finding really interesting and quirky stuff to chat about.
D.B. But it's NOT really interesting, though... Just Quite Interesting, you know.😉
"To be fair Jimmy, I had to have it pointed out to me"
Fun facts about language are my absolute favorite!
There are so few channel that are both informative and entertaining. This is one of the few.
Jimmy's mind was blown wide open. Expect more wordplay material in his next routine.
QI is such an incredible show. Intelligent insights and hilarious people. What's not to love!
How I Met Your Mother did a great gag in the first season where Ted was trying to break up with a girl on her birthday and he knew dragging it out would not be virtuous, so his reasoning was that he just knew she wasn't "the one" but the answer as to why was ineffable. "I'm not effable?" she replied. It was brilliant.
ON MY BIRTHDAY
I suppose everyone in 1701 was just very cessant about using the word "cessant".
No doubt that the _Enterprise_ had a hand in this matter.
A cessation of cessant use
Incessant is the continuation of something, meaning cessant is to stop something. They were very cessant about using cessant
Wolf6120 Was it in 1701 when Scotland officially joined in with England to form the UK?
@@leeball4585 for me sounds better "a cessation use of cessant", but I might be wrong.
Cleave can mean to join together or splice apart.
Katie Hough doesn't splice mean to join?
specifically "cleave to" if you want to mean the former
"Splice apart" is a contradiction.
@@brokenwave6125 oxymoron
One of the funniest short segments I've seen
"I think we need marijuana for this"
I've definitely had convos like this
Mostly when you have proven you really do not need it.
@@57thorns He said it while i had some. It was a well good laugh.
1:08 This guy was living in 2019 while we were all living in 2017
The new presenter is really growing on me, I love the sass!
Probably the best QI clip ever!
A word which has unfortunately become a contronym: Literally
Not for me. When someone says "Oh. My god. I literally died," I'd have to respond with "Then why are you still here, torturing me and my ears with your rape of the English language?"
+CloudsGirl7
I don't use it like that either, but enough people do that it's now official. It figuratively kills me
"Not for me" yes but you don't get to choose. When you talk about meaning of language, you're referring either to common usage or dictionary definition, neither of which agrees with you.
+Luke Wren
Well, the more loudly we yell about this online, the more likely people will take notice. If enough people go back to only using the original definition, it can be changed back, since that's how languages work.
I think that ship has sailed :( I'm truly sorry. I used to think the same thing you do
Now this one is worth watching!
I thought an antigram was used for weighing helium balloons.
Love this show, can’t believe I’ve never heard of it before
"inflammable means flammable? what a country!" - Dr. Nick Riviera
So funny! Brilliant stuff, thank you, QI
Customers = store scum... I love it! (yes, I do work in retail lol)
this was a particularly good one.
We get this show here in Australia and I love it. I love the host too, I think she is absolutely hilarious and wonderful.
They are brilliant; I hope I may be able to remember some of those!
Yesn't?
NERTCHER yescent
As an American in India I heard a term that I’d never heard before but makes perfect sense as the opposite of postpone: “prepone”
As in “Can we prepone our meeting by 30 minutes?”
Genius, and so much better than “Can we move up our meeting by 30 minutes?” which for me always requires the response “You mean have it earlier?”
"There's a few people out there working retail"
CLAP CLAP CLAP!
XD
"Well Michael, I underestimated you."
"Well, maybe next time you will estimate me."
...or estimate me _accurately._
unlockable - able to be unlocked
unlockable - not able to be locked
a modern contronym: "literally" which is also used to mean "figuratively"
one plus twelve = two plus eleven
Someone has been watching QI.
This was a really good one
Still remember, at age 8, some kids parent correcting me that inflammable didnt mean it cant catch on fire.
I was gutted.
So... does that mean you have guts, or that you don't have them anymore? :v
TH-cam recommendations strike again. But I'm not mad, this video is funnier than it has any right to be.
“I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.” -Michael Scott
This is a great excerpt!!
Jimmy Carr should get a klaxon every time he laughs.
Priceless!
Nobody says something is priceful.
Plenty of ruthless acts to go around but a lot less ruth ones.
Ruthless is a group of people where nobody is called Ruth.
"To be fair Jimmy, I had to have it pointed out to me" - Next level layering!
🤣🤣🤣
So, would the word "sanction" be a contronym?
I'm an american, I think I missed my exit, I've watched about five clips from the show, I don't even know what it is. It's great. Love it. Don't know I got here.
“Just reading”
I'm feeling very gruntled after watching this.
In French, we have the word "hôte", which means the person welcoming to her house, and the person welcomed to this house. It's just... a lot.
So it means both "host" and "guest"?
Da Scientist correct
Host in English (same route I would think) has the same ambiguity. Usually we use 'Guest' for clarity.
Also "manquer" means both to miss and to be missed by.
@RickRogers I don't think I agree; I've never come across the word "host" being synonymous with "guest". Can you give an example ?
That music at the end is nice.
“Your impression of doing drugs shows you’ve never done drugs” is such a boring joke at this point
Then stop rewatching the video?
it was a cheap joke
My favorite one of these EVER!!
Best anagram ever: Virginia Bottomley = I'm an evil tory bigot.
Nonetheless, the leftist scum are the most hateful bigots and manipulative of them all. Upside down world indeed.
@@gomongio It's just an anagram of her name, and happens to be rather amusing given it's complexity. I'm sure there's many amusing anagrams of what you describe as "leftists" (does that make you a rightist? I'd be careful- it's inches away from being "right tit"), lets look a few up, shall we? might be a fun game to pass a bit of time during lockdown!
@@gomongio: Someone's easily triggered.
This went from interesting to very interesting to hilarious. And all within four minitues!
did anyone else notice when Adam said "Antonym" Alan leant in and squinted at Adam like he had an ant on him.
Unbelievable stuff, i'm surprised i didn't miss it.
This video left me very gruntled!
Aster
Traught
Whelmed
Alright robin
I'm pretty sure whelmed is the official word for hotboxed,
Or something similar to that.
I remember whelmed actually being in the dictionary,
Despite it not being the word I was looking for.
I'm so gruntled with this! 😜
F-able!!!
Hahaha
Thanks gnilttbs... that helps answer my long term thoughts! Though I must say I don't hear people using "ruthful" either!
Some of us may or may not have actually been high while watching this, and Jimmy's not really too far off, haha
Here's another one. You are always underwhelmed or overwhelmed, but no one is ever simply whelmed.
*sees a QI thumbnail with Sara Pascoe* *(clicks)*
Speaking of orphaned negatives:
English uses the Germanic word "harm" and has the adjectives "harmless" and "harmful".
In German and Norwegian "harmlos/harmløs" are orphaned negatives.
Instead of "harmful" they say "schädlich/skadelig" which both come from the Germanic word "skapon". The nouns are "Schaden/skade".
The word "Harm" was used in German but it meant more of a mental damage like a depression or a trauma. It fell out of favour and wasn't used outside of poetry for at least two centuries.
Another word for contranym is autoantonym
A synonym of contranym is autoantonym
I just can't get enough of Sara!
that's very interesting, can I hear more?
Whereas the opposite of nonplussed is most definitely not plussed.
Why did I ever stop watching this show?!
How about ininflammable? It's the antonym in French of inflammable and one of my favourite absurdities of language. I suppose that you don't use it in English, I can't blame you!😉
I remember when I was a kid I was always confused by a street sign that told people there was "no access for inflamable goods". Thought it was an odd request until I learned what it really meant.
Q. What's an antigram?
A. lbs.
Cleave: to split, separate or
to stick fast, adhere strongly
Cleave - means to cut apart or stick together.
1:54 I made a jump in the air out of surprise and was convinced Alan had started speaking Dutch.