I think this is a situation where the limitations of language show themselves.
IMHO, I would say there's two distinct kinds of "opposite": the lack of the thing (darkness is the absence of light), and the antithesis of the thing (anti-matter annihilates matter).
I think opposites are entirely situational and some things could have more than two distinct opposites.
The real answer is "I need more information / in what regard"
As a Brit living in 🇩🇪 and thus deutsch as my 2nd language, I laughed way too much at this. I only ever use “nein” with my cats, because well… it just sounds better ‘auf deutsch!’
Hey. Germans can be funny. It's all a misunderstanding in the different "melodies" english and german have to be "sung". German is pronounced monoton for native english speakers which translates to boring, not funny.
From now on the opposite reaction to funny shall be known as speaking in German. Unless it's Peter Stormare or Craig Ferguson doing it. (Or at least the accent.)
A friend’s fiancé does stand-up and he did quite a good skit in the German accent the last time I saw him. He’d stayed with a family in BaWu as a teenager, so at least it came from experience!
It's impossible because amusement can live alongside the entire range of human emotion, not just opposite. We can find amusement in the disgusting, the morose, the painful, the mundane, the bland, the tragic, the violent, the passive, the frenetic...
German is the most amusing language of them all. Naked swimming' is 'Nacktschwimmen'. Not to be confused with Nachtschwimmen, which sounds exactly the same and is much less surprising at 14
My 4-year-old once asked me for the opposite of "wearing a hat". We debated the question but could not decide between:
* Not wearing a hat
* Taking off a hat
* Putting on an anti-hat
Wearing is not equivalent to putting on a hat (the first is continuous while the second is instantaneous) and there is no such thing as an anti-hat, so the opposite of "wearing a hat" must be "not wearing a hat".
I think "hatless" works as an opposite to "wearing a hat" but not "bareheaded" as it implies that there is no head covering, such as a head scarf, and you would probably not consider a head scarf to be a hat.
This argument only works if we are talking about "wearing a hat" as a state, not an action
Taking your first remark way too seriously, "hatness" is not a physical property of fundamental particles. - You could make an antimatter hat but that would still be a hat. You could even wear it for a split second before being blasted apart by matter turning into pure energy
I mis-heard my 5yo once when we were talking about opposites. I thought he asked me "what's the opposite of clothes". I was like "wow that's a great question, I think maybe a cold breeze. But it depends on what kind of clothes you're thinking of" and he just stared at me.
I love that (currently) there are 24 responses to this and it covers the theoretical existence of anti-hats, the nature of time, and some peoples obsession with socks and functional nudity.
Hahaha, yup, peak German humour, that! Yes, there are untranslatable puns in German, too. Occasionally, in the school yard, my students and I exchange some "What is..." jokes, too...
Not really… yet? Though it might be part of Fremdschämen, which has been commonly translated as 'second-hand shame'. A variety of such and similar reactions may also get replaced with the very useful, versatile and often very dry "Tja." It’s kind of a non-exclamation.😅
I vote "mean"... It's a bit of a "both sides of the same coin" situation where you need an incisive grasp of the human condition to make someone feel better or worse with words... but funny is generous & empathetic while mean is selfish & isolating... and it reverses who gets to laugh in the end.
Comments
IMHO, I would say there's two distinct kinds of "opposite": the lack of the thing (darkness is the absence of light), and the antithesis of the thing (anti-matter annihilates matter).
The real answer is "I need more information / in what regard"
Also das ist wirklich nicht lustig, Herr Gaiman! Wir sind humorlos! ;)
Vs
Her face was German.
That's why the examples in the OP are specious.
Just because it's not hot, it doesn't mean it's cold
Speaking in German definitely: D
ch can be maintained indefinitely and is kinda like a hiss in your throat,
k is plosive, so it's always just a moment long (much like t)
If I try to maintain k the way it's possible with ch, it turns into an uncontrollable gurgly mess.
* Not wearing a hat
* Taking off a hat
* Putting on an anti-hat
but agreed, after all the question was about the opposite of wearing a hat, not about wearing the opposite of a hat.
but let's take a look at ye olden words, how about "hatless", "bareheaded"?
This argument only works if we are talking about "wearing a hat" as a state, not an action
The word was "closed".
Verbs typically have an opposite, but nouns typically do not. There is no opposite of a hat. There is, however, an opposite of wearing.
PRETENDING there is an opposite of a hat is, however, silly and fun and worth doing with your kids.
Thats what I would say! 😁
(rain is arguably the anti-hat, since they sort of cancel each other out)
* Being wear by a hat
...and youngster philosophy
B and C are both transitional periods with their own opposites
B is the opposite of putting on a hat and of taking off an anti-hat
C is the opposite of taking off an anti hat and putting on a hat
It turns out "opposite" is a relative term and all of these are valid takes.
Another: Being worn by a hat
https://youtu.be/4b04jq7NB1s?si=ke-Xxb2pLi2XhDq8
Signed, A German.
Although if its a dad joke, that's the desired effect. 😆
There is little else as meta as funny
Ein Backstein
Der Kaktus.
Ein Schwinguin
Alle Kinder schauen auf das brennende Haus. Nur nicht Klaus. Der schaut raus.