Sound and Sense, 32

Our English dictionary has in it many words whose sounds and meanings can … confuse. In this next series of doggerel, I’ll be writing about several sorts of such words.

The first—the contronym: a word, says the Oxford English Dictionary, that has “two opposite or contradictory meanings.”

Earliest published use: 1962.

trip noun

1. a journey

2. a stumble

The trip he planned to Timbuktu

Did not work out—yes, it is true.

He fell—a trip!—out near his car,

And so his trip was not that far:

Just from his upright posture—then

Down to the ground. And that was when

His journey changed to near from far—

From Timbuktu to that ER,

Which was a single mile away.

So … Timbuktu? Another day.