0

Note: TMI stands for "Too Much Information"

This shower thought came to me a few years ago, and just popped into my head again - I've searched on this site and Google and came up empty.

Oxymoron, paradox, and contradiction come to mind, but is it just an ambiguity?

Justin
  • 10,186
Randal
  • 21
  • No, the wrong duplicate. A heterologous word is one whose meaning conflicts with its orthographic form (eg long, polysyllabic). I can go with Is there a term for a word that 'defeats its own purpose'?. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 09 '22 at 19:07
  • There is a noun phrase for it: 'alphabet soup'. I suppose it is a sort of slang, but it does convey the idea sharply. – Tuffy Feb 09 '22 at 22:01
  • @EdwinAshworth, heterological describes any expression that is not true of itself; it is not limited to the expressions that are not true of their written appearances (orthographic forms). It is thus the technically correct answer to the question, but it should be noted that (1) heterological, in that sense, is not a word in general circulation (it is used only as an example of a certain logical paradox), and (2) contrary to what the OP assumes, there is nothing unusual about being heterological, in that sense, as most words and phrases are heterological. – jsw29 Feb 09 '22 at 22:43

0 Answers0