to think that a "polar opposite" isn't actually opposite at all, but actually opposite to opposite?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

Rather like a double negative?

Convinced.

Obvis.

You mean dialect?

Geolect. It's the language of the earth, man...

What about the phrase "opposites attract" made famous by Paula Abdul. That flys in the face of the geolect argument don't you think?

Isn?t a polar opposite the negative of something, rather than just the lack of it?

I.e. ?Opposite? can mean lack of something (i.e. dark is the lack of light, poor is the lack of money, cold is the lack of heat energy), but can also mean the negative version of something, so for example Sadness is not just a lack of Happiness, but a negative version of it.

Equally going North isn?t just the lack of going South, but a negative version of it. So a Polar opposite is an opposite which is a negative, or "same magnitude, reverse direction" not just a lack. That would make ?Indebted? the ?polar opposite? of ?Rich?, while ?Poor? would be the normal ?opposite?.

At least that's the way I've always understood it?

There should be a warning in the title of this thread "not to be read on a Monday"

No, no, Tee, there's lots of lects around.

A bit rabbitish, I think. From one came many.