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<p>Dear all,<br>
</p>
<p>Mark Post mentions the English <i>bad</i> used to mean 'good'.
This brings to mind a pet project that I've been collecting data
on for several years, which I refer to as "antonymic nicknames".
This is when you call somebody very thin <i>fatso</i>, somebody
very stupid <i>professor</i>, etc. — a usage clearly rooted in
irony. Australian English seems to be the epicenter of the
phenomenon; for example, <i>bluey</i> has been conventionalized
as a way of calling people with red hair. But antonymic nicknames
are common throughout the world, albeit not universal.</p>
<p>In the attached map (work in progress!), red dots represent
languages in which antonymic nicknames are solidly attested, while
grey dots are for languages in which (a) I lack attestations for
antonymic nicknames, and, crucially also (b) sources insist that
they would never occur in their language — in the most extreme
case, such speakers simply "don't get the joke".</p>
<p>David<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 25/01/2020 06:45, Mark W. Post
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CA+dHXRJKZMt_DzFRAAm--rxLHFdB6AGOyk5Mt1PEqjiXKFkF8A@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="auto">This seems to be part of the same family of
phenomena as when e.g. English speakers say (or used to say)
“bad” to mean “good”, so I’m also curious a) whether there’s a
superordinate label to describe the semantic move, and b)
whether “ironic negative” is the most widespread term for this
use of verbal/clausal negation.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Thanks </div>
<div dir="auto">Mark</div>
<br>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-556825895
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091</pre>
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