Word Play 17

soroban

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\(\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}\text{Still More Janus Words} \\ \\ Snap \\ \text{to break apart} \\ \text{to join together} \\ \\ Imposing \\ \text{impressive} \\ \text{interfering} \\ \\ Temper \\ \text{to soften} \\ \text{to strengthen} \\ \\ Root \\ \text{to establish (the weed took root)} \\ \text{to remove (root out the weed)} \\ \\ Inoculate \\ \text{to protect against} \\ \text{to infect with} \end{array}\)

\(\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}Dust \\ \text{to remove dust (dust the room)} \\ \text{to apply dust (dust the crops)} \\ \\ Trim \\ \text{to remove (trim the hedges)} \\ \text{to adorn (trim the tree)} \\ \\ W\!ent\:eek:\!f\!f \\ \text{to start (the alarm went off)} \\ \text{to stop (the light went off)} \\ \\ Seed \\ \text{to sow seeds} \\ \text{to remove seeds} \end{array}\)

. . . . \(\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}Alight \\ \text{to settle onto} \\ \text{to dismount from} \\ \\ Handicap\\ \text{an advantage (golf)} \\ \text{a disadvantage} \end{array}\)

 
Actually, I do not think "temper" is a "Janus word."

Tempering steel (probably iron as well) makes it slightly softer in order to make it stronger. When working steel into a shape, the metal becomes brittle upon cooling and shatters easily. Reheating the steel after working and chilling it relieves stress within its crystaline structure. So it is a misuse of the word to imply that tempering simply means weakening. It should be used to imply softening that strengthens. The word and underlying concept appear Janus-like only if you assume that hard is perfectly equivalent to strong.

Do not ponder long how a history major got his first real job programming computers to run tempering furnaces and tempering mills. You might never dare drive over a bridge again.
 
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