Chelsea says that after moving from the Midwest to Norfolk, Virginia, she was confused by traffic reports indicating that a local bridge was open. Turns out the bridge is a drawbridge, and by open, the announcers were saying that the bridge was lifted for boats and barges, and therefore not open to cars. This is an example of polysemy, or the fact that words have more than one meaning. It’s also an example of a Janus word, also known as an antagonym or an enantiodrome, such as cleave, which can mean either to stick together or to split. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “The Bridge is Open but Closed”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hey there, my name is Chelsea. I’m calling from Norfolk, Virginia. How are y’all?
We’re doing well, thanks.
What’s going on?
I am originally from the Midwest, and I’ve lived out here in Norfolk, Virginia for the last like three or four years. And for the first, like, I don’t know, six months, a year that I lived out here, I was so confused by something I heard on the radio all the time during the traffic reports. And it was that they were always saying that there’s a bridge opening. The bridge is open, you know, at 1, 3, and 5, the bridge will be open. And I always thought, that’s so weird. Why are they telling me the bridge is open? Okay, so the road is open, the bridge is open. Why are they telling me that? And then I found out, oh, duh, the bridge is open, which means the bridge is closed, because it’s a drawbridge opening up for boats to go through. And I just thought it was fascinating that something that says it’s open actually means the exact opposite, that it was closed. And so I, you know, I understand that, you know, it’s for the boat that is open. So that would make sense. But I just wonder, I’m like, why are they telling drivers that it’s open? They should be telling drivers that it’s closed. And so I was wondering if you all had any kind of experience where words mean the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to mean.
You mean outside of politics?
Yes.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Oh, this is wonderful. I love that. So the bridge is open, but it’s actually closed. And when it’s closed, it’s actually open. Depending on whether you’re on a boat or in a car. And that’s the crux of it, isn’t it, Chelsea? The idea that if I have a ship with a tall mast and I can’t pass this way until the bridge is up and the drawbridge is open, then I do think of the bridge as open, meaning I can go through.
Exactly. And so it would mean open in that sense. But my thought was, surely, you know, boat operators have their own communication where they tell them the bridge is open. And so you would think they would tell the roadsters that the bridge is closed. But yeah, I just thought that was fascinating. I wondered if you guys knew any other things, like I said.
So there’s a kind of famous category of words in English known variably as Janus words or contronyms or even antagonims. Or enantiodromes. Enantiodromes, where a word, depending on the context, because you said that magic word context, it’s amazing how often that comes up on the show. Depending on the context, one word, pronounced the same, spelled the same, can have two different meanings.
Yeah, although this is a little bit different because like the word cleave. Can mean to stick to, like you cleave to your wife, or you can cleave things in two with a meat cleaver or something like that. And those are words that are spelled the same way, but they’re actually different words. They come from different origins. And in the case of the bridge, you’re both talking about the same thing, about it being open or closed. So I’m trying to think of another word that depends, that means the same thing, but is different based on your perspective.
Well, many words in English are like this. Some of the times they’re slangy. The famous one is the 80s slang for bad meaning good.
Well, you are bad.
Right.
Like that sort of thing. But in dictionary editing, we have a word polysemy, which refers to the nature of words having more than one meaning. It’s really common. What we’re looking for is not only more than one meaning, but opposites, as Chelsea said. I don’t think you’re ever going to solve this. I’m putting myself in the shoes of the radio announcer and saying to myself, I have several different constituencies that I’m talking to. I’m talking to people who are seagoing, and I’m talking to people who are roadgoing, and I need different language for each. And somewhere along the way, they got their tradition of just saying the bridge is open and speaking to the seagoers more than the roadgoers. That’s what I would assume. It makes sense to me anyway.
What do you think, Chelsea?
Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. And it makes sense why they do it, but I just thought it was fascinating. I wanted to hear what y’all had to say.
It really is. Because the open means open and closed means closed, but it just means different things for different people.
Exactly. And the bridge is in different positions. You know another one, if we want to be here all day, we can also talk about what it means to turn the air conditioning up.
Oh, yes, absolutely.
Oh, my gosh. I think up means turning it to 74, and my husband thinks it means 61.
That’s exactly right. Always a problem in my household. Like, turn the air conditioning up.
Yes, I agree. We’re starting fights all across America right now.
Yes, it’s true.
All right.
Bye, Chelsea. Take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
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I don’t know if this is at all how it is used in practice, but I would take ‘the bridge is closed’ to mean it might be closed due to repairs being done to the actual structure of the bridge, or the roads on, or leading to it, making it impossible to cross by whatever mode of transportation. FOr example, the bridges could be closed to car traffic, but still have a side strip open for pedestrians or bicyclists, as would not be uncommon in Amsterdam. Or it can be closed in one direction, but crossable the other way. If this is the case in English, the way it is in Dutch, then that could also explain why the traffic announcers landed on the side of ‘the bridge is open’, to mean temporarily closed for land traffic.