Phrases That Seem To Negate Each Other.

Some phrases seem to be opposites, but actually mean the exact same thing. For example, "I could care less" and "I couldn't care less". And also “Its all uphill from here” and “its all downhill from here” and low up and slow down, and slim chance, fat chance too.

This happens a lot with words too. Here's just a partial list:

Canny/uncanny

Flammable/inflammable

Regardless/irregardless

Famous/infamous

Ravel/unravel

Overwhelmed/whelmed

Seed (to remove seeds, as from fruit)/seed (to apply seeds, as to a lawn)

To sanction (meaning to permit or to approve)/sanction (as a penalty, e.g., sanctions against a foreign government)...

 

Care free sex commitment

 

There is no Proof IN the Pudding. The Proof OF the pudding in in the Tasting.

 

Irregardless isn't a word, supposedly.
I could care less means the opposite that the thing isn't the worse thing you could imagine.

One must think before speaking or writing.

 

Though not popular in literary circles. Merriam Websters has this to say about the word:

 

Make a left turn, Right here.

 

thing with irregardless is it's a double negative (like "could care less"). the prefix ir- or irr- means not, as in "irreplaceable" (ca'nt be replaced). regardless meand 'without regard", the prefix irr- then modifies it to mean effectively "not without regard" or "regarding" in other words. so even though people on the internet may even unknowingly mean to say regardless they just end up contradictnig themselves like a bunch of dumbfucks instead

 

Ha! I did that to my bro when he came to visit. We stopped at a corner and he asked me "do I turn left here?" I replied "right". Confused, he asked the question again. I replied "right", again. He did it one more time, getting angry, while I was cracking up at his predicament. Of course, the third time I said "right", while roflmao. You had to be stoned like me at the time to appreciate the quandary.

 

I might as well include this one (I forgot). Ambulance and ambulatory. Ambulatory is from the Latin word to walk. Because you can easily walk to the hospital instead of being taken there. Ambulance is from the French phrase hôpital ambulant or mobile hospital. The two men who took you there on the stretcher walked, in other words.

So if you are taken there in an ambulance, you're definitely not ambulatory.

 

All very "Who's on First,"
Gotta love it

 

Using right as "I agree", can be endless fun, particular when you are helping someone to navigate.
Our friend, who was the chief pilot for a major international airline, banned the word altogether on the flight deck. Even saying " Right, set bearing 340", can still be confusing. To her, even "set" is redundant.
People chatting to her, find her single word answers bordering on rude, but it is a way of life for her. But if you came onto her flight deck stoned, I am sure that she would find a few more words.

PS, "Don't never" is my favourite one.
The next step is slightly more complex. When one of our company directors said "Never let me find out that you have ordered". When I had to face the music, I assured him that I had done everything possible to prevent him from finding out.

 

A man known for his heavy drinking, and got in trouble at work, starting hiding his drinking. Told people he wasn't drinking any more. To his wife replying; He may not be drinking any more, but he's not drinking any less either.

 

I can remember using that one when Jane was not slowing down sufficiently.
The turn she seemed to be looking at was onto the railway tracks.

Look where you are going, rather than going where you are looking, sprang to mind on that occasion.

 

Talking about ambulances, during the period when I was driving them in London, I got a call from a disabled woman to change the channel on her television. By coincidence, I had some batteries for her remote.
The control room told me afterwards that she was a regular caller, spreading her calls between us, police and fire department. The fire department calls were to turn her television off at night, in case it caught on fire.
Anyone who has worked for the UK emergency services will tell you that only about 20% of the callers need emergency help.

Perhaps the most genuine one we ever got was when Freddie was sick, he really needed emergency help. Except Freddie was the woman's cat.
We actually put Freddie on oxygen, while giving them both a ride to the emergency vets. We probably broke every rule in the book, but no one was likely to complain in a nation of animal lovers.

 

In 1966 my Dad was teaching me to drive. We started out in parking lots. The first time we went on the roads it was a quiet residential area. My Dad did the same thing to me. He said "Turn right here, left."

I had started to turn "right" when I heard the "left" and we ended up on the left turn partly in a ditch. (in the winter)