#+title: Atem: a new word
#&summary
A presentation of the new word 'atem' and why it's so desperately needed
#&
#+license: bysa

* Atem: a new word

Have you ever checked the Wiktionary entry for 'meta'? I have. It's right
[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meta#English][here]]. When I looked at it, I noticed that there were no antonyms. *None!*

But why?

#+caption: This alien agrees.
#&img;url=/img/aliens/lulala.png,float=right,width=200
I often find it useful to be able to un-metaize complex thoughts: instead of
thinking about thinking (meta-thinking), I think. Nothing else. However, when I
mention that "I think", it may not be obvious that before I was thinking, I was
thinking about thinking, which is why I have chosen to create *atem*, a new
word whose only function is to act as meta's antonym. With this word, I can now
say that "I atem-think", meaning "I think because I thought of thinking", or I
can say that "I think", meaning "I think". 'atem' removes a lot of ambiguity
from the English language.

Ok, maybe not that often, but sometimes it's useful.

Also, *atem* could be quite useful in abstract definitions, as a way to focus
on making something abstract concrete instead of making something concrete
abstract. For example, this page is probably an atem-page, because somewhere
out there there's a page about this page.

Perhaps every object in existence could be considered an atem object. It's not
impossible, it just doesn't make much sense.

Still, this word could be useful. I hope it gets into a dictionary.


* Update, February 11, 2012 (UTC)

I just found out that I'm not the only one who at some point found the lack of
a meta antonym strange and annoying. Naturally, I can't rely on Wiktionary to
give me the latest opinions on language extensions.

A recent internet search for "meta antonym" gave me several links to pages
where other people discussed the need. Someone have even proposed the word
"mesa". I don't care if the new antonym becomes "atem", "mesa" (which I guess
has nothing to do with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_(computer_graphics)][this Mesa]]), or something else --- I just want it to
exist.

