Dreen

English is so powerful. It's so alive. Tons of new words find their paths to the language and make it even more powerful. However, sometimes you feel the lack of a word. This specially happens for those of us who know other languages. Sometimes a single word says a lot which is only possible to express in a sentence in another language and sometimes it's not possible to express an idea, concept or condition at all.

It's not a matter of covering a concept. Yes, you can make the negative or opposite form of potentially everything using 'not'. How about the case you want just one word? What is the opposite of green? ( How about my suggestion as the title of this posting?) What is the opposite of kiss?

I think scholars have thought about this. That's why you find some made-up words in some innovative novels. Take Harry Potter series: A lot of new words for the new imaginary things and they work. People have read them, liked them and connected with them. I'll give you an example: J.K. Rowling calls the little winged ball they have to catch in amusing Quiditch game , the snitch. I'm sure she has invented this word because the usage of this ball is very close to 'snatch'. To snatch means to grasp or seize hastily, eagerly, or suddenly. This definition is exactly what the writer meant and she changed the word a little.

I'll write more about languages later.