The Word That Means Its Own Opposite

A linguist and a diplomat were negotiating a treaty. Every clause was carefully drafted, each word weighed.

Finally, the linguist stopped. “We have a problem.”

“What?”

“This word. ‘Sanction.'”

The diplomat looked. “It means to approve.”

“It also means to punish.”

The diplomat blinked. “So if we write ‘the UN shall sanction this action’…”

“It could mean the UN approves it. Or the UN punishes it. The reader has to guess from context.”

“From context? In a treaty?”

“Yes.”

The diplomat stared at the page. “You’re telling me English has a word that is its own enemy?”

“Several, actually. ‘Oversight’ means supervision — or failure to notice something. ‘Cleave’ means to split apart — or to cling together. ‘Dust’ means to remove dust — or to apply dust.”

“So if I say ‘I cleave to my principles in the dust,’ I could be removing dust or sprinkling it, while either embracing or destroying my principles.”

“Exactly.”

The diplomat closed the document. “We’re writing the treaty in French.”