Pastsimple  +  252407 Fri, 04 Aug 06 08:32 PM  Nona The Brit wrote: no they are not opposites, just different. Anyway sugar is very sweet so an opposite would need to be very sour? Sugar - lemon juice! Hi Nona, Since Ant_222's mother tongue is from the same family of languages as mine, I'd like to say that in our languages, we treat sugar and salt as opposites. I didn't know it didn't work in English. Thanks for clearing it up. Mother tongue interference. Just curious: If I were an English psychologist and asked an English kid to name opposites as quickly as possible and than shouted "sugar", would he/she really respond with "lemon (juice)"? Pastsimple Joined on Thu, Feb 16 2006 Czech Republic, Europe Full Member 328 If you are a native speaker and find any grammar or stylistic mistakes in my posts, don't hesitate to tell me! I will really appreciate that.

	Ant_222  +  252422 Fri, 04 Aug 06 09:08 PM By the way, I wrote it as a joke. To me, sugar and salt are as opposite as sugar and lemon juice. But salt and lemon (lemon acid) are not, maybe because excess of any of them has a much stronger effect on our taste than sugar does. And of course, neither pair are antonyms. We often mistake difference for opposition. Ant_222 Joined on Sun, May 21 2006 Podolsk, Russia Contributing Member 1,717 Jokes, Antonyms

	Pastsimple  +  252431 Fri, 04 Aug 06 09:21 PM  Ant_222 wrote: By the way, I wrote it as a joke. To me, sugar and salt are as opposite as sugar and lemon juice. But salt and lemon (lemon acid) are not, maybe because excess of any of them has a much stronger effect on our taste than sugar does. And of course, neither pair are antonyms. We often mistake difference for opposition. You got me. P.S. I do know those two are by no means antonyms. To complicate it all, I'd like to say that neither are "love" and "hate". Try and find out why. Pastsimple Jokes, Antonyms

	Grammar Geek  +  252434 Fri, 04 Aug 06 09:28 PM But this could turn into a fun thread: Choclate and broccoli Dentist visit and trip to the beach (By the way, as a matter of philosophy, I'd say love and indifference are better opposites than love and hate.) Anyway, I think the point has been made. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,650 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	pieanne  +  252437 Fri, 04 Aug 06 09:36 PM I'd rather say "dentist" and "posting in the EF"! (I hate going to the dentist's!) pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	Ant_222  +  252448 Fri, 04 Aug 06 10:00 PM What I actually think. [or Sorry for my English in advance] Only words denoting a degree of a quality can have antonyms. If on a group of all the words denoting different degrees of the same quality can be defined an antisymmetric, irreflexive, transitive relation (giving the ability to compare degrees), then there is a pair of antonyms for this quality, and the two words belong to the group in question. Namely, after we have defined the relation, we can sort the degrees linearly (see the properties of the realition). Then, with each element of the resulting sequense we can associate the word expressing the given degree. The first and the last words in the sequence, corresponding to the lowest and highest levels of the quality, will form the desired pair of antonyms. A softer rule: If we can mark out a word denoting the neutral level of the quality then any pair of words, such that one word is to the left of the neutral point and the other to the right (in the sorted sequence), is also a pair of antonyms. Examples: Illumination: darkness (the lack of), dark, normal, bright,... Weight: light, medium, heavy... ... «By the way, as a matter of philosophy, I'd say love and indifference are better opposites than love and hate». Love — indifference Hate — indifference Something — the lack of the something I don't think so... I do think that love — hatred is a pair of antonyms, don't know why Pastsimple disagrees. Ant_222 Antonyms

	pieanne  +  252454 Fri, 04 Aug 06 10:09 PM I don't think the things made by man can have an antonym. I would tend to see antonyms for all the primary things, that existed before man created others. High/low - rich/poor - happy/sad - black/white, etc etc... pieanne Antonyms