• fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A description is “autological” if it describes itself. For example:

    • “Short” is a short word, so it is autological.
    • The phrase “excessively verbose, wordy, redundant, repetitious, repetitious, and prolix” also describes itself, so it too is autological.
    • “Written in English” is written in English, so it is autological.

    A description is “heterological” if it does not describe itself. For example:

    • “Long” is not a long word; so it is heterological.
    • “Bisyllabic” is not a bisyllabic word, so it is heterological.
    • “Written in Arabic” is not written in Arabic, so it is heterological.

    Now, is the word “heterological” itself heterological?

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      The following phrase is autological: “is currently being read by an idiot”