Opposites Attack!

We're certainly used to the idea of words that have antonyms, or opposites. And we have all used words that seem like they should have opposites but don't.

The good folk at Mental Floss have hunted up some words that do have opposites, although those opposites are not very intuitive. Déjá vu's opposite is not vuja de, despite what you may have heard. It's actually jamais vu, which translates from French as "never seen." Technically, the first one references a new event that feels strangely familiar. So the second describes a familiar event that feels as though it has never happened before, like finding your car keys before you are late to work.

"Ambidextrous" means being equally skilled with either left or right hand. The opposite might be simple ordinary left- or right-handedness, but the Mental Floss researchers suggest it's really "ambilevous," which means you are equally clumsy with either hand. On the other hand (heh), I'm not sure how that's different from ambidextrous. Both hands have the same skill level; it's just that it's pretty low.

In science-fiction stories, there are sometimes robots or androids that gain intelligence and free will. If they are mobile, then they might be called "automatons," or "self-movers." Though machines, they have become capable of desiring and directing their own movements. Giant computers that become self-aware are generally not called automatons, because they can't move. Unless they also develop mind-control powers and force their human servants to pick them up and carry them places.

The opposite of automaton is a "heteromaton," or something that can act only when moved by outside forces. An example of this would be a politician, whom we notice can only move or speak when acted upon by outside forces in the form of opinion polls.