50 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
50 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
|
---
|
||
|
|
abstract: A presentation of the new word 'atem' and why it's so desperately needed
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
# Atem: a new word
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
*2011.*
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Have you ever checked the Wiktionary entry for 'meta'? I have. It's
|
||
|
|
right [here](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meta#English). When I looked
|
||
|
|
at it, I noticed that there were no antonyms. *None!*
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
But why?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
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
|
||
|
|
[this Mesa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_(computer_graphics))),
|
||
|
|
or something else --- I just want it to exist.
|