Timeline for Pros and Cons, Prostitution and Constitution
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 7, 2019 at 10:44 | comment | added | Cyker | While I understand what you mean, "automobile" looks valid to a language learner. +1 for "automobile". | |
| Dec 7, 2019 at 10:32 | comment | added | Katy | @Cyker And if 'conforming to etymology' were the sole basis on which we judged word usage, I could say I was an automobile, because I move myself around. But it isn't, and we can't. | |
| Dec 7, 2019 at 10:21 | vote | accept | Cyker | ||
| Dec 7, 2019 at 10:21 | comment | added | Cyker | Finally, I made it clear why "prostitute" is made this way. Here "pro" means "before", and "stitute" means "setup". So the meaning of the whole word is close to "I have setup beforehand". For example, I could say "I have prostituted our computer and you can now start playing games". Weird enough to native speakers, I guess, but it conforms to its etymology. | |
| Dec 7, 2019 at 10:13 | comment | added | Cyker | Well, I think prefix carries a meaning. But some prefix carries multiple meanings, and one or more of those could be neutral. That's why the meaning of the whole word sometimes depends more on what follows the prefix. So one can't say "pro-" words are always good, while those good "pro-" words do have relationship. | |
| Dec 7, 2019 at 10:04 | comment | added | Katy | @Cyker You have failed to understand the point: you can't tell just by looking at the prefix whether the word has a positive, negative or neutral valence. | |
| Dec 7, 2019 at 10:03 | comment | added | Cyker | The other side ("pro" words): What I found was "pro-" can also mean "before" and "front", besides "favor" and "like". This applies to "prohibition", "provoke", etc. If so it's not clear whether the word is good or bad by looking at "pro-" alone. But I think "pro-" in "procrastinate" means "favor" not "front". It basically means "I like tomorrow". | |
| Dec 7, 2019 at 9:52 | comment | added | Cyker | One side of the question ("con" words): The Latin prefix "con-" is in point, I think. Given the "con-" in "constitute" comes from "con-" not "contra-", "establish together" explains "constitute" well. "con-" can be a neutral prefix, the compound word formed from which also depends on the other part. | |
| Dec 7, 2019 at 9:27 | history | edited | Katy | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 322 characters in body
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| Dec 7, 2019 at 9:21 | history | answered | Katy | CC BY-SA 4.0 |