I love language

I'd never heard of contronyms until today. These are words that are their own antonyms; that is to say these words are also their opposites.

My favorite is clip. We've all used paper clips to join multiple pieces of paper together. And we've also used scissors to clip things apart.

When I was an undergrad I touched the surface of linguistics. It's a big and fascinating field and in our household my kids often want to know why something is called what it is. For example my kids might ask me, "Daddy, why are shoes called shoes?" My answer is the same answer that Alice used to give all the time, "I can't know."

"Alice, where are your shoes?"

"I can't know."

My green parents

This photo is from Tashalutek's flickr account, but it is similar enough to the clothesline at my parents' house that it brings back a rush of childhood memories.

My parents always had a clothesline (still do) and whenever it is warm enough to hang clothes, they do. As a kid I tried to help, but mostly it was fun to run up and down the rows surrounded by bed sheets hanging on the line. If I close my eyes now and think about it, I can still feel the stiff, sun and air dried sheets blowing gently in the wind around me. Sheets hung out to dry had such a great smell.

And now many in the developed, tumble dry world are returning to the clothesline. I read the other day that as much as 40% of household energy usage may go to the electric dryer. So after you're finished switching all your incandescent bulbs to fluorescent or LED, head to your backyard and install and clothesline. I have it on my list of things to do this spring. I hope my children come to love the clothesline as much as I did. I may join them hiding in the sheets.

Here's another blogger's great post on the subject.

This Saturday is Step It Up 2007 National Day of Climate Action. I've signed up to attend some portion of the event. I plan on taking my two older children. This problem will impact them much more than me. As one who regularly commutes to and from work by bike, and plans to ride to this event too, I'll be curious to see how many show up in their cars.

It's ironic that this event about global warming is taking place on a spring day that according to the forecasts may find us shoveling snow.