Questão de Língua Inglesa

Janus Words – Two-faced English 01 As if reading and writing English is not difficult enough, the language includes a number 02 of words with opposite meanings within themselves. These are often called Janus words, after 03 Janus, the Roman god of doors and beginnings. (January, the first month of the year, is named 04 for him.) Janus usually was represented in art as having two bearded faces that faced in opposite 05 directions, as do doors — and as do Janus words. 06 Some Janus words – and this is just a selection – include to scan, meaning either to look 07 carefully (“The captain scanned the horizon with binoculars”) or to glance quickly at (“She 08 scanned the report in a few minutes”); to peruse, with similar senses, meaning both to read or 09 examine carefully and to look at or read casually without much attention to detail; and 10 inflammable, easy to burn, and an especially treacherous term since the in- prefix is sometimes 11 considered to be negative, with the result that the highly combustible word is understood as 12 meaning “not flammable.” 13 The wordplay that characterizes slang also exploits Janus effects. For example, bad can 14 stand for “very good, excellent, wonderful, sexy” in different contexts. Variations on this theme 15 include not bad, not half bad, and not so bad, which translate as “good,” “pretty good,” or, 16 depending on intonation — “Not bad!” — as “very good.” Even worse than bad is wicked, which 17 is truly evil, but also is a Janus word in some contexts, meaning “really good, excellent, 18 wonderful.” Wicked seems to have acquired its “good” side more recently than did bad. Wicked 19 may also be used as an intensifier, signifying “very, extremely,” as in a complimentary review 20 of a book for young adults: “Even if ‘Gorgeous’ . . . never quite realizes its full potential, it is 21 still a wicked good time” (New York Times Book Review, May 12, 2013). 22 Similar to Janus words are what might be called Janus sentences, which have been 23 constructed, usually deliberately, to be so ambiguous that opposing meanings can be read into 24 them. These are especially useful when one is asked to write a letter of recommendation and 25 wants to be honest but not to risk being sued for slander. For example, “You’ll be lucky to get 26 Jones to work for you” could be understood to mean that Jones will be a fine employee – or that 27 once employed, he’ll hardly ever do any work. “You’ll never catch Jones goofing off or playing 28 computer games” may just mean that Jones is too smart to be caught. Then there is the book 29 review credited to Dorothy Parker: “It is not a novel to be dismissed lightly.” She added, 30 however: “It should be thrown aside with great force.” Meanwhile, I am awaiting the day when 31 some dear friend tells me: “I shall lose no time reading your next Cambridge post.” 32 Hmmm. (Avalaible in: https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2013/07/01/janus-words-two-faced-english/#more-2382 – text especially adapted for this test).