aren't they?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't think so. For example vanilla and chocolate are often called opposites but don't have opposite flavors at all, in fact chocolate foods often contain vanilla flavor which acts complementary. If anything, the opposite of vanilla or chocolate would be garlic or MSG or something. And dogs and cats aren't really opposite either, as they both belong to the family Cynofelidae, and they have things in common like both being domesticated house-pets.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

hmm, yeah that makes sense. thanks duuuuude

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Hey, we don't allow intelligence on amirite? anymore!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

This is the problem

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I also used to think all cats were female and all dogs were male before I learned about reproduction.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I used to think that sheep were "the girls" and goats were "the boys" before I learnt they're different animals.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Some animals looked more feminine/masculine than others

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Don't we consider things to be opposite if they are in the same group in a sense? It is usually told that black is the opposite of white, but they are both colors (or on the color wheel). No one would say that the opposite of white is carrot.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

True, black is the opposite of white because they act on wavelengths of light in opposite ways. Chocolate is not the opposite of vanilla because they don't have opposite flavors, they have complementary flavors, like I talked about in my other comment. And of course a carrot wouldn't be the opposite of white, when did I ever suggest something like that?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

For the part about cats and dogs, dogs are more social than cats. The opposite of social is antisocial. Cats, generally speaking, can be antisocial sometimes. So they're opposites in that sense.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Go and stop are opposites and they're both commands. Up and down are opposites and they're both directions. I'm pretty sure all opposites have something to do with each other. Like you said, "'carrot' and 'white' have nothing to do with each other" so it's not possible that they are opposites.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Right.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think you can even go further and conclude that no nouns can ever be true opposites of each other. It is only adjectives, verbs, and adverbs that have opposites.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

(white_knight_faggot):what about man/woman? Are they not opposites?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They're both human

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah you're right, there are few nouns that I would call true opposites of each other.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yes, they are opposites, because they're the male/female dichotomy of the same species. Just like billy-goat and nanny-goat are opposite, or rooster and hen are opposite, but billy-goat and hen wouldn't be, because they aren't in the same category. Also, I just learnt the word dichotomy last month, so I'm using it everywhere so I look smart.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

(Simon):haha you are smart. I'm not sure how you can use dichotomy everywhere though! Anyway I realised my question sounded pretty dumb but I was trying to say that nouns can be opposites, for example man and woman.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Actually, you were right, those are nouns that can be opposites. And I guess nouns that describe concepts (is there another word for them?) can be opposites: Lie/Truth, Justice/Injustice, etc.

by Anonymous 12 years ago