Did You Know? #54

Fred's Note: Here are some brain candy from the good folks at Mental Floss, "Words That Describe Themselves":

1. Word - Yup, that's what it is.
2. English - Well, it ain't French.
3. Erudite - It is a very scholarly word, this word that means scholarly.
4. Noun - Verb, adjective, and adverb are nouns too.
5. Buzzword - Been hearing this everywhere.
6. Cutesy - Barfsy.
7. Polysyllabic - Lots of syllables in this one.
8. Sesquipedalian - A term for "long word" from the Latin for "a foot and a half long."
9. Unhyphenated - And should remain so.
10. Magniloquent - Grandiose and pompous indeed.
11. Recherché - Rarified? Affected? Pretentious?
12. Proparoxytone - Meaning stressed on the antepenultimate, or third-to-last syllable.
13. Hellenic - Of Greek origin.
14. Obfuscatory - Do you want to be straightforward and easy to understand? Then don't use this obfuscatory word.
15. Suffixed - Now that you mention it, "prefix" works too.
16. Monepic -  That word to describe a one-word sentence.

If these aren't enough to blow your mind, how about some "Words That Are Their Own Opposites" otherwise known as contronyms. The folks at Mental Floss really do cover their bases, don't they?):

1. Sanction - Means ‘give official permission or approval for’ or conversely, ‘impose a penalty on.’
2. Oversight - The noun form of two verbs with contrary meanings, “oversee” and “overlook.” *
3. Left - Mean either remaining or departed.
4. Dust - A noun turned into a verb meaning either to add or to remove the thing in question.
5. Seed - If you seed the lawn you add seeds, but if you seed a tomato you remove them.
6. Stone - You can stone some peaches, but please don’t stone your neighbor.
7. Trim - Means either 'adding' or 'taking away'.
8. Cleave - Means ‘to cling to or adhere' or ‘to split or sever‘.
9. Resign - Means ‘to quit’ or ‘to sign up again’.
10. Fast  - Means 'moving rapidly' or ‘fixed, unmoving’.
11. Off - Means ‘deactivated’ but also ‘activated,’ as in "The alarm went off."
12. Weather - Means ‘to withstand or come safely through' or ‘to be worn away’.
13. Screen - Means ‘to show’ (a movie) or ‘to hide’ (an unsightly view).
14. Help - Means ‘assist,’ unless you can’t help doing something, when it means ‘prevent’.