Quote Originally Posted by Aedilred View Post
Fortunately, being British, I don't have to listen to what some Yankee book says about the language or treat it as a reliable source. But any dictionary that includes the word's antonym as a definition loses credibility in the process anyway (looking at you too, OED).
They're called contronyms, and a dictionary that doesn't include them also loses credibility by virtue of being incomplete. While I thought they were inevitable given English's insatiable urge to incorporate any language it can, it turns out other languages have them, too. (I'm obligated to call out biweekly, which isn't a real contronym, but still ends up confusing no matter the context in which it is used.)

That said, we all know that if there will be any consensus on supplying Earth's natural satellite with a new name, it will be "Moony McMoonface."

Quote Originally Posted by halfeye View Post
My point with "plane-ette" was that geometric planes are infinite, and perfectly flat, however planets are a close approximation to spheres, and so finite but unbounded, and appear to be more or less flat until you move about quite a lot on them. I am sure I am not the first to have noticed that "plane" and "planet" have similar spellings.
But these issues apply to the planets that you're not redefining, too?

Too bad no one objected to calling the outer planets Space Balls... I recently realized that I missed the opportunity to suggest calling them Planen'ts.