26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>
Genevra Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5415 days ago 13 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Russian*, Swedish*, English, French Studies: Italian
| Message 1 of 26 15 February 2010 at 6:51pm | IP Logged |
Hi there,
I was thinking the other day of different words in general and suddenly came to think of the words "thirsty" and "hungry".
While I all languages that I speak I could find the word "hungry" and its antonym, ie "full", I couldn't do the same with the word "thirsty". No antonym! Although it's such a basic thing.
I started to think about this and for several days now I cannot get it out of my head.
First I would appreciate if those of you who speak a language that actually has that antonym could respond to this quetion of mine. But also, from all of you, I'd find it very interesting to hear your thoughts about this "problem".
Why don't we have that antonym? Is it of less importance to say that one doesn't want to drink? Where can one find an answer to this lack of such a basic word - in history? psychology?
1 person has voted this message useful
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6703 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese
| Message 2 of 26 15 February 2010 at 6:55pm | IP Logged |
slaked
1 person has voted this message useful
| Genevra Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5415 days ago 13 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Russian*, Swedish*, English, French Studies: Italian
| Message 3 of 26 15 February 2010 at 8:56pm | IP Logged |
Yes, although it's not really a verb you can use that will specifically mean only that.
And how will the substantive be?
Slake can mean to put out a fire etc. So still we have a "problem" here. When we say hunger / hungry, the first thought we get is that the person is physically hungry, wants food. But when you do not want any water for example - why cannot one say that in a very specific way?
And also, in other languages - can you come up with any words? I haven't found any in Russian, Swedish, French or Italian yet.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5670 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin
| Message 4 of 26 15 February 2010 at 9:13pm | IP Logged |
Isn't quenched the antonym of thirsty?
EDIT: Also, isn't the full the antonym of empty, rather than of hungry? I would probably use satiated rather than full.
Edited by Splog on 15 February 2010 at 9:16pm
3 persons have voted this message useful
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona
| Message 5 of 26 15 February 2010 at 9:57pm | IP Logged |
On a lighter more colloquial note, how about "bladdered", "bladderful" or "bursting"? ;)
1 person has voted this message useful
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6703 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese
| Message 6 of 26 16 February 2010 at 12:38am | IP Logged |
Genevra wrote:
Yes, although it's not really a verb you can use that will specifically mean only that.
And how will the substantive be?
Slake can mean to put out a fire etc. So still we have a "problem" here. When we say hunger / hungry, the first thought we get is that the person is physically hungry, wants food. But when you do not want any water for example - why cannot one say that in a very specific way? |
|
|
As splog pointed out, the same problem exists in using full as the opposite of hungry. Satiated gets closer to the point.
The problem is that they were not developed as logical abstracts--they simply were used to denote observations of the world. In this case, the empty world of one's stomach or the dry world of one's throat.
In a way, it's like noting that rock doesn't have an opposite.
But at the same time, I think it's like darkness not quite having a real opposite. What should it be, light? Sure we use it as the opposite, but it's not quite, really, if you think about it.
Then again, opposites are abstracted constructs and they don't always line up. What is the opposite of love? Hate? Why isn't it fear, based on the polarity of attraction and repulsion? Or apathy, being the opposite of passion? What else could be the opposite of love?
As for thirst, it's like a lap. It only appears when you have it, and doesn't exist when you don't. It's hard to imagine feeling a feeling that really signifies "not thirsty" is a real, positive sense. It's like a saying by some famous person that if there was a word that meant "to believe incorrectly," it would never be used in the first person, present tense.
2 persons have voted this message useful
| BartoG Diglot Senior Member United States confession Joined 5448 days ago 292 posts - 818 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Latin, Uzbek
| Message 7 of 26 16 February 2010 at 5:31pm | IP Logged |
There's one other element here, to my mind: When we talk about this, it's usually in a quasi-ritualized setting. The offering of food and drink is a mark of hospitality, and I wonder if there's something about rejecting these too overtly. Raincrowlee makes a great point about thirst being like a lap - only there when it's there. This means the only time you need to discuss a lack of thirst is when somebody else is trying to get you to drink something and you need a polite way to reject it.
It's been suggested that "full" is the opposite of "hungry," but notice the context in which it is used. If your host asks you to stay for dinner, you would never say, "No thanks, I'm full." You'd say, "I'm not hungry." The "full" part only comes after your host has given you enough food that you don't want anymore - it's an indicator of satisfactory hospitality, not the rejection of an offer of hospitality outright. Likewise, with alcoholic beverages, you might reject that third glass of wine with "I think I've had enough." But you would like for something else - "I'm not thirsty" or "I have to drive" - if saying no from the outset.
1 person has voted this message useful
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian
| Message 8 of 26 16 February 2010 at 6:16pm | IP Logged |
Antonyms:
Thirsty - Quenched
Hungry - Full
a "thirst quenching" drink
Are you still hungry? No, I'm full.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
This discussion contains 26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>
You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum
This page was generated in 0.3750 seconds.
DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
|