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Saturday 22 June 2013

NEGONYM.


I am working on the premise i have invented a new word or term. Negonym. That is, a hononym that has a modern precedent of having racial , sexist or homophobic connotations, and as such is no longer in wide use, or is in the process of vanishing. Negonym is a combination of negation and hononym.

4 comments:

  1. Hmmm that could sure do the trick, sounds quite slick.

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  2. I can't think of any terms that would be considered a negonym.

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    Replies
    1. Spade and spayed are hononyms which are also negonyms. Since the term spade has a modern racial connotation meaning its now falling out of use. 'Call a spade a spade' or 'black as the ace of spades' are now becoming less and less familiar to a modern audience due to self censorship.

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  3. I've seen "negonym" used in the past, but with a different definition. It meant a word that may have in the past had a positive and a negative form, but in modern usage, is only used in its negative form. "Uncouth" is a example of a negonym. Uncouth is current usage, but the positive form, "couth" is not in current usage.

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Message me, i always reply. I love hearing peoples thoughts or views about what i make.