Meanings can be opposites

-
If you are expecting some philosophical content here, no, that's not what I want to say.

Languages have always interested me, but I have not really taken efforts to analyze them more than needed.

Today, at work, I had this doubt on usage of the words Oversee and Overlook.

Look means See

Now, append the word look to both these words.

Overlook means to neglect. In effect, not bothered.
Oversee means to supervise. In effect, too bothered.

Logically,

Look and see are meanings. Look = See
Overlook and Oversee are opposites. Overlook X Oversee

But why?

Note: If you are wondering about the time I have at work, to wonder so much about the words usage, let me clarify, that being a technical writer involves bothering about such word issues also, apart from other logical and practical language issues.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How are you placed today?

-
A very common question I got asked over the last one month's time by many of my friends. The answer has to be simple: I have a, b, c things to do or 1, 2, 3 places to go to or i, ii, iii work to complete... and the like.. This is on the basic level and probably this question doesn't need too much thought or attention beyond this.. But, I did find this question quite disturbing. One evening, on my way back from a temple, I realized the answer to this question: Where ever we are at any given point in time, we are placed at the right position to serve the right purpose at the right time!!. Just that we do not realize it. There is no reason to fret about things ( I admit that I have not yet reached that level of maturity as I write this post but I definitely realize ) when they are not in your hands. Exam results for instance. You can only put your best until the paper leaves your hands. Now, if the evaluation will happen properly is something you have no control over. Sim...
Read more

Sargam - A 1992 Movie Review

-
This is a malayalam movie directed by Hariharan. Probably everyone in Kerala would have watched this many times. I got a chance to watch this movie yesterday. Brilliant make - a nice mix of psychology and music. I could identify, Vineeth, Renuka, Thilagan, and Nedumudi Venu in the movie. I wouldnt know the rest of the stars but I must say the movie has been done very well and is set in the late seventies or so it seems. Or may be the nineties itself. I would not know such a set up because I grew up in Tamil Nadu. The whole movie has been shot in a bungalow of old times. They call it Kovilagam which seems to mean Temple. I assume that the ancestors of this family had once been very rich and provided for the families working for them and lived a kingly life with great taste towards traditional arts. The family in the movie seems to be richer as well and did have regards for arts, especially music. Kuttan Thamburan had epilepsy and his close pal, Hari was around right from childhood to ta...
Read more

Make a difference......

-
Andhra mess..... Once quiet, but now a noisy little food joint close to my office caters to the IT folks who crowd in during Noon for lunch. We are a group of friends who frequent this place once or twice a month for sure. We all have different preferences in meal usually. One friend of mine loves peanut powder, another does not have curd, I don't usually take rice, instead ask for extra Rotis, another friend likes to have sugar soon after the usually spicy meal. Usually we place orders for "All Veg meals" and when the waiter comes over to serve, we give out our preferences. I never knew that he knew our tastes by heart... He ensured that sugar was kept on the table, extra rotis were brought in, and peanut powder took a place in our table. We are all still amazed about the memory power that this person who serves close to hundred people a day has and how much of an impact it has on us, his valuable customers. Later when we were talking about it, we realized that a lot of ...
Read more