Kooky Keratin
April 12, 2013
My theme for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is contronyms. A contronym is a word with two or more opposite meanings, making it its own antonym. Click here to find out more about these quirky words.
 
Freya with the letter KRemember yesterday when I was whining about having only one contronym option for the letter J? Well, it turns out the language gods have a sense of humor. That’s because after scouring all the lists of contronyms I could google up, I was unable to find a single K contronym. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I never would have guessed K would be the one to give me trouble. I mean Q and X are the usual troublemakers, but even they managed to show up for the contronym convention. Come on, K, get it together!
 
We’ll just have to muddle through with the next best thing – a contronym where the second letter is K: sKin. Plus, Keratin makes up the outer layer of skin, and as a K word that has to count for something, right?
 
Skin – to remove or strip off outer covering or skin
 
~ or ~
 
Skin – to cover with or as with skin
 
Like joint yesterday, skin is one of those words where verb versions are used to describe actions involving the noun version. In this case of opposite meanings, one is ‘taking off’ and the other is ‘putting on.’
 
Since I wrote that supremely awesomely spectacular story yesterday showcasing the horrors of joint, I fear any attempt to do the same for skin will end up extremely derivative of my earlier masterpiece. Instead, I’ll leave you with a picture of a character from a truly talented horror writer, Thomas Harris.
Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs
 
Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs skins his female victims so he can skin himself in a woman suit.
 
If the picture puts you in the mood to watch the entire Buffalo Bill dancing scene, then you can find it here, but remember it’s not safe for work since it has salty language and, uh, interesting dancing.
 
Are you familiar with contronyms? Even though I couldn’t find any ‘K’ contronyms that doesn’t mean there isn’t one hiding out there – can you think of any? How Kissable is Freya with her letter K?

 

My theme for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is contronyms. A contronym is a word with two or more opposite meanings, making it its own antonym. Click here to find out more about these quirky words.
 
Freya with the letter KRemember yesterday when I was whining about having only one contronym option for the letter J? Well, it turns out the language gods have a sense of humor. That’s because after scouring all the lists of contronyms I could google up, I was unable to find a single K contronym. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I never would have guessed K would be the one to give me trouble. I mean Q and X are the usual troublemakers, but even they managed to show up for the contronym convention. Come on, K, get it together!
 
We’ll just have to muddle through with the next best thing – a contronym where the second letter is K: sKin. Plus, Keratin makes up the outer layer of skin, and as a K word that has to count for something, right?
 
Skin – to remove or strip off outer covering or skin
 
~ or ~
 
Skin – to cover with or as with skin
 
Like joint yesterday, skin is one of those words where verb versions are used to describe actions involving the noun version. In this case of opposite meanings, one is ‘taking off’ and the other is ‘putting on.’
 
Since I wrote that supremely awesomely spectacular story yesterday showcasing the horrors of joint, I fear any attempt to do the same for skin will end up extremely derivative of my earlier masterpiece. Instead, I’ll leave you with a picture of a character from a truly talented horror writer, Thomas Harris.
Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs
 
Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs skins his female victims so he can skin himself in a woman suit.
 
If the picture puts you in the mood to watch the entire Buffalo Bill dancing scene, then you can find it here, but remember it’s not safe for work since it has salty language and, uh, interesting dancing.
 
Are you familiar with contronyms? Even though I couldn’t find any ‘K’ contronyms that doesn’t mean there isn’t one hiding out there – can you think of any? How Kissable is Freya with her letter K?

 

Jocelyn Rish

Jocelyn Rish is a writer and filmmaker who never imagined her cheeky sense of humor would lead to a book about animal butts. When she's not researching fanny facts, she tutors kids to help them discover the magic of reading. Jocelyn has won numerous awards for her short stories, screenplays, short films, and novels and lives in South Carolina with her booty-ful dogs.