Synonym Sandwiches, Compounds With Embedded Double-Meanings

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Tom from Cotchahokan, Pennsylvania.

My question is, last summer I came back from walking in the woods and I checked myself for tics.

I did a tic check, and I realized that tic check is the opposite of an oxymoron.

Instead of two words that are opposites, it’s two words that mean the same thing.

Both tic and check mean checkmark.

And I was wondering if there was a word for this opposite of an oxymoron.

It’s not really a redundancy because they’re only synonyms out of context.

But, yeah, I wanted to know what you guys thought.

All right.

So let’s break this down just a little bit, kind of re-explain this in other words.

So you’ve got the compound tick check, where you’re literally checking your body for the arachnids known as ticks.

And the interesting linguistic curiosity that you noticed, good eye, by the way, is that tick and check can both mean checkmark.

So both parts of the compound are synonyms.

Yes.

Okay. Gotcha.

Gosh, a word for that.

You know, I’m not aware of one.

And, I mean, the linguistic terms we can talk about here are polysemy, which refers to how words can have multiple meanings, as you pointed out.

You know, tick could be like the noise that a clock makes, but also that little critter.

And then check can be something you write or an inspection.

I’m trying to think of, in fact, any other word combinations like that.

Well, I have a few, but let’s explain polysemy.

Polysemy for a second, or at least spell it, P-O-L-Y-S-E-M-Y.

Polysemy is a word may have more than one meaning, which is pretty standard across all of English.

It’s also worth mentioning that in everyday phrases, the English language usually avoids pairing true synonyms, you know, unless they’re doing it on purpose in legal language.

And then it’s usually separated by and, you know, like null and void or will and testament.

Yeah, peace and quiet.

And those are tautologies or those doublets, as they’re called in legalese, are tautologies.

And then there’s pleonasm, which is not quite the right term either.

So this isn’t a tautology or a pleonasm.

A pleonasm is when a word or expression contains more words than it really needs to say the same thing.

So advance warning or past history.

Yes. And so we’re talking about something really succinct.

I don’t know. Tom, do you have a word for this?

So I thought since it was the opposite of an oxymoron, I’d play off oxymoron.

And I’m not like a big Latin guy, but I did some research.

Oxymoron means smart, dumb.

And I thought we’d do a smart, smart.

So I came up with oxy soften.

From Greek, huh?

Or what if you just called it a moronoxy?

Moronoxy?

That’s good.

I like that.

I mean, seriously, I don’t think this is a very big category of words, if at all.

I mean, the only thing that I can think of is maybe stress test, in that you stress something and test something in both of those things.

I’ve got some more for you guys if you want them.

Seriously, really?

I have some, too.

Oh, you do?

Let’s hear them, Tom.

Head start, both mean beginning.

And I guess like dude bro, but I guess that’s a tautology.

Dude bro.

Dude bro, yeah.

Yeah.

What about match game?

The international championship matches are sometimes called match games.

Yes.

Yeah.

Or suitcase, a piece of luggage.

But both words are, suit and case can mean a legal proceeding.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, that’s a good one.

Yeah, so we’ve got a few of these.

But you know what?

We have many puzzlers listening to the show.

Many of them are members of the National Puzzlers League,

Which I highly recommend you check out

Because it sounds like they’re going to be right down your alley, Tom.

And maybe our NPL friends will jump in here with a bunch more examples

And maybe even have a word for it.

Awesome.

I love more of Oxy, though.

That’s great.

Yeah, I do, too.

I like yours, though.

Oxy’s often sounds sophisticated.

That sounds…

It kind of does.

I don’t know.

I’m going to name my next business that, I think.

I think it sounds like a medication, oxy-sulfon.

All right.

Well, keep those tick checks going.

You don’t want to get them in the unfortunate crevices and come down with Lyme disease.

I appreciate that.

Thanks, guys.

All right.

Take care of yourself, Tom.

And thanks for talking with us today.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.