Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with opposites

Please help me research human "parity errors".

rwhe — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:52:30 -0800

Can anyone point me to literature about conceptual "sign flipping" or "parity errors" and confusion of opposites in humans? I'm interested in material about errors such as subtracting time instead of adding it, or vice versa, when converting local time to GMT; grammatical double negatives; the erroneous expression "I could care less"; confusing left with right when giving directions; and so on. The more general the discussion, the better.

Even suggestions of good keywords would be helpful. Googling "parity error" brings up pages of results about errors in computer RAM.

Yes, I am familiar with the paper called "The Ghost Not", but it comes with a lot of metaphysical luggage I'm happier not to lug.

Thanks!

No, the other left!

Listener — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:20:11 -0800

Need to overcome problems with opposites like right/left, before/after, above/below. My friend is hoping to overcome his maddening behaviour of making mistakes with opposites, not just left and right. It seems to be a problem with the words, whether written or spoken. He just flips them often. We've practised with body left/right hand, direction, and things in the environment, but I wonder if there are some good tips or even learning resources that would help with this. He actually probably missed out on a job because of confusing something/nothing in a written instruction, so he now realizes he has to get a grip on this thing. He even sometimes makes up an opposite where none exists, by adding or removing a negative prefix. He's not mentally or linguistically weak; in fact he's very good in more than one language and with complex abstract subjects in computing. Just lousy with basic opposites. Your suggestions appreciated.

It's not only opposites who repel...

sixcolors — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:42:43 -0800

Why do I keep attracting people (for relationships) who are incompatible with me? Why do I have trouble attracting those who are? I did a search and there are already a few posts that are similar to my first question. I want to focus more on my second question, it’s the part that REALLY concerns me, and I haven’t located any similar posts in the past.

I consider myself pretty open-minded. I wouldn’t mind dating people of different races, classes, life experiences, ages, or even religions or political ideologies (as long as they aren’t too extreme in their views). But there’s one thing that I want me and a partner to have in common --similar interests.

I can’t seem to find anyone who has similar tastes and lifestyles for the life of me! Well, I’m finding them, but they are almost never interested in me. It’s the NUMBER ONE reason why I have such little relationship experience.

Whenever I locate someone I’m interested in, I do what most people do…engage in small talk. I like to observe people before, before I approach them. Sometimes this process take minutes, sometimes weeks. Some people I already know, some people I’ve just met. Whenever I find something we have in common, I approach them about it.

I usually get one (or more) of four responses:
1. When I bring up a common interest, they change the subject.
2. They flat out lie about not being interested in the subject, or claim they used to be but not anymore. Thankfully, this rarely happens.
3. More common: They find something to disagree about, and focus on that difference instead of focusing on what we both like. Or I constantly get one-upped.
4. Most common. I’m flat out not believed. I hear comments such as “Wow, you don’t come across as….”, “You’re kidding me, you can’t be serious about this”, “You don’t strike me as…”, “I never would’ve guessed in a million years that you liked…”, or “Ohhh, realllly? *followed by an eye roll*”. The conversation either dies out, or the subject is changed.

Example for #3: I used to be really into the band Incubus. I found out that the guy I was interested at the time, that he was a huge fan of Incubus also, more so than me. I named my favorite album…and was told that it was THE WORST album Incubus had ever put out, and everyone he knows agrees with him. Then I went back to discussing the band period, but he went back to how awful that particular album was.

Another Example for #3: I found out another guy I was interested in really liked Italian food and is into many local music scenes in our state. One day the subject of colleges and college towns came up, I mentioned that I liked so and so college because it is located by several good Italian restaurants and have a good local music scene. Instead of us having a conversation about that, he said that ***** university really really sucks, and he doesn’t understand how anyone would visit the place. He claimed that the college had a very bad basketball team and every thing in the town closed to early. When I tried to get him back on subject, he said that despite the good restaurants and local music scene, he could not get over the fact that someone would like that place.

Example for #4: I was in a sorority for two years in undergrad. In one of my grad school courses, the whole class discussed the pros and cons of Greek life. A guy I liked revealed that he was in a fraternity during undergrad. During class break, I told the guy that I used to be Greek too. His reaction was “OMG. You are kidding me! I totally do NOT believe that you were once in a sorority!” and then he went on to ask details about other classmates who were Greek! Later on in class, I kept catching him giving me stolen glances, as if he was trying to decide if I was telling the truth.

Another example for #4: A girl (who’s a friend) I’m currently interested in, is vegetarian just like me. She said “Wow, you don’t come across as a vegetarian AT ALL!” For some reason she does not acknowledge the fact, despite I told her many times. Like when we go out to eat, she asks me what *insert meaty entrée* do I plan to order.

All four of the people above, I have tried to connect with them (on different things) on NUMOROUS attempts, but I keep getting similar responses. And that's just four of the people who treat me that way. The funny thing is there are many men and women, who I don't have so much in common with, respect me for both our differences and the few similarities we have, and pursued me for relationships.

The Opposite of Lonely

rooftop secrets — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:24:07 -0800

What other words out there lack elegant opposites? I had a long discussion with some friends trying to get someone to give me an elegant solution to finding a word that encapsulated the meaning of "the opposite of lonely". Ultimately, we failed to find one that truly captured all elements of what that concept implied. This fascinates me.

What other words lack opposites? I do not mean which words only work in one direction (e.g. "unruly"" "unkempt"" and "uncouth" only work in the negative, but antonyms exist, like unruly/disciplined, unkempt/tidy, etc.). Rather I mean words whose opposite concept cannot be boiled down to one word.