If the opposite of 'anonymous' is 'onymous', what's the opposite of 'pseudonymous'?
I mean the conditional seriously, in a way. That is: For most standards of usage the opposite of 'anonymous' isn't 'onymous', because 'onymous' isn't a word. But in silly uber-geeky online writing--yes, you, reading this right now--nonce words like 'onymous' are acceptable and in fact encouraged. So I want to set the standard of usage to the standard on which 'onymous' is the opposite of 'anonymous', and then find out what the opposite of 'pseudonymous' is for that standard.
Could it be that this is what's going on in the snowclones that Geoff Pullum is always complaining about, such as "If Eskimos have dozens of words for snow, Germans have as many words for bureaucracy." But probably not.
(Incidentally, I hope this warms Geoff's heart: "Although the claim that the Eskimos have hundreds of words for snow is an exaggeration, the Inupiat make distinctions among many different types of ice, including sikuliaq, 'young ice,' sarri, 'pack ice,' and tuvaq, 'landlocked ice.'" Please to forgive American-style punctuation.)
Posted by Matt Weiner at April 25, 2005 08:46 AMPlease to forgive American-style punctuation.
Impossible!
My first instinct is always to make the opposite of "anonymous" be "nonymous". Anyway, "veronymous" mixes Latin and Greek, and I'm sure there's a more elegant solution that doesn't. Plus it sounds like it should mean "named Veronica".
Maybe "eponymous"?
Posted by: ben wolfson at April 25, 2005 11:02 AM"Eponymous" already means something different. I guess its semantics are implicitly relational, or something? "The eponymous character" = "the eponymous character of work X" = "the character with the same name as work X." Whereas the semantics of "veronymous" or whatever don't seem to require that component.
Anyway, I await a properly Greek compound.
Posted by: Matt Weiner at April 25, 2005 11:37 AMI just remembered that the Greek root for true is 'aletha', but when I suggested 'alethonymous' to the ancient philosopher in the next office he just sighed.
Posted by: Matt Weiner at April 25, 2005 12:01 PMI know about "eponymous"'s already-established meaning. I was thinking it could work by suggesting that the name gone by (the non-pseudonym) and the real name were the same. "The eponymous commenter" = "the commenter whose real name is the same as the name under which the comment is made". I suppose that doesn't really work very well.
Posted by: ben wolfson at April 25, 2005 12:22 PMThis is a trick question, right? IF the opposite is onymous (which it isn't), THEN any proposition may be inferred.
Posted by: Matt's mom at April 26, 2005 12:25 PMThis is a trick question, right? IF the opposite is onymous (which it isn't), THEN any proposition may be inferred.
Posted by: Matt's mom at April 26, 2005 12:25 PMThere is no opposite to pseudonymous, because it isn't a binary term.
Posted by: bitchphd at April 26, 2005 01:15 PMMom--No! Damn material conditional.
B--"Negation," then. I'm kinda thinking: Without name:with name::using fake name:using real name; so anonymous:onymous::pseudonymous:?
I'm kinda thinking of 'veronymous' anyway, because there's a glimmer of a chance that someone in the prospective audience would understand it.
Posted by: Matt Weiner at April 26, 2005 02:14 PMYou know, in a pinch, you could use "nonpseudonymous".
Posted by: ben wolfson at April 26, 2005 02:37 PMI don't think there is a word for it, because we assume that all texts are authored, and that "authored" means, "has the name of the writer attached to it." It's an interesting omission, not having a name for that.
Posted by: bitchphd at April 26, 2005 05:42 PM