[Ads-l] Another Janus-faced phrase: "not going anywhere"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Laurence Horn wrote:
> ESPN's college football “power rankings” says of Iowa State, after their second
> upset win, “Iowa State isn’t going anywhere”, meaning they’re not going away,
> they’re for real, they’re around to stay.  My first understanding of “Team X isn’t
> going anywhere” is that they have no upside.
>
> It’s a bit like “it’s all downhill from here”, meaning either the good part
> is over or the tough part is over.  I think there are others of this type
> that we’ve discussed, but I can’t come up with any at the moment.

LH's examples were phrases and not words, but this may be pertinent:

Merriam Webster article: Janus Words - These words are their own opposites
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-own-opposites
Janus words are also known as contronyms, antagonyms, or auto-antonyms.
Examples: peruse, sanction, oversight

Enantionym was suggested by Laurence Horn and Lynne Murphy as
described in this list message from 2005:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-March/047709.html

Ben mentioned "nonplussed" and "bemused" as examples during a thread
in November 2015:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2015-November/139643.html

Wikipedia: Auto-antonym
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym

Garson

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