X Marks the Spot
April 27, 2013
My theme for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is contronyms, which is a word with two or more opposite meanings, making it its own antonym. Click here to find out more about these quirky words.
 
Chloe with the letter XAs I'm sure was the case for many of my fellow A to Z participants, the letter X proved to be a bit tricky. I consulted several different lists of contronyms and there was nary a X contronym to be found. I was starting to feel anxious (oh look, it's a contronym with an X in it, should I reuse it?), but then I found one more list, and lo and behold, it held the treasure I sought. And in this case, X really did mark the spot because the contronym is the letter X itself. Now I know it's technically not a word, but when that difficult-end-of-the-alphabet desperation kicks in, I'll take what I can get.
 
X – to indicate choice, as on a ballot or exam (select)
 
~ or ~
 
X – to cross out (deselect)
 
When I get my ballot, I'm so disgusted by the candidates who are such idiots they never even should have been listed that I X out their names. It only makes me feel slightly better. Then after weighing the overwhelming number of cons and very few pros of the remaining names, I pick the lesser of all the evils and X 'my choice' in this farce of an election.
 
X the ballot
 
Are you familiar with contronyms? Can you think of an example of a ‘X’ contronym the lists might have missed? How eXceptional is Chloe with her letter X?
 
Image courtesy of bredmaker
My theme for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is contronyms, which is a word with two or more opposite meanings, making it its own antonym. Click here to find out more about these quirky words.
 
Chloe with the letter XAs I'm sure was the case for many of my fellow A to Z participants, the letter X proved to be a bit tricky. I consulted several different lists of contronyms and there was nary a X contronym to be found. I was starting to feel anxious (oh look, it's a contronym with an X in it, should I reuse it?), but then I found one more list, and lo and behold, it held the treasure I sought. And in this case, X really did mark the spot because the contronym is the letter X itself. Now I know it's technically not a word, but when that difficult-end-of-the-alphabet desperation kicks in, I'll take what I can get.
 
X – to indicate choice, as on a ballot or exam (select)
 
~ or ~
 
X – to cross out (deselect)
 
When I get my ballot, I'm so disgusted by the candidates who are such idiots they never even should have been listed that I X out their names. It only makes me feel slightly better. Then after weighing the overwhelming number of cons and very few pros of the remaining names, I pick the lesser of all the evils and X 'my choice' in this farce of an election.
 
X the ballot
 
Are you familiar with contronyms? Can you think of an example of a ‘X’ contronym the lists might have missed? How eXceptional is Chloe with her letter X?
 
Image courtesy of bredmaker

Jocelyn Rish

Jocelyn Rish is a writer and filmmaker who never imagined her cheeky sense of humor would lead to a book about animal butts. When she's not researching fanny facts, she tutors kids to help them discover the magic of reading. Jocelyn has won numerous awards for her short stories, screenplays, short films, and novels and lives in South Carolina with her booty-ful dogs.