As we know, "cleave" has two definitions from two different sources. This leaves me wondering which source cleavage comes from. If one's topside is so large that they squish together it seems like one etymology; if they don't touch it seems like the other. Why, oh, why do I lie awake nights worrying about this stuff?

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Why, oh, why do I lie awake nights worrying about this stuff?

You're a boob? I try to keep abreast of these things.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Proofreader>,

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Originally posted by Proofreader:
I try to keep abreast of these things.

So do I, hence the post. And does this mean that "Cheers" character Cliff Claven was schizophrenic? I assume that "Claven" is the perfect tense of "cleave."

Or Beaver Cleaver. Now there was a euphemism!

A perfect name for an old-fashioned obstetrician - the kind who still delivered babies sans C-section.

Silliness aside, does anyone want to answer to my original question?

Geoff, wouldn't cleave, in this sense, just mean a split between the breasts since it comes from the word meaning "to split?"

Interestingly, there is another meaning to the word cleave, which is "to adhere." Have you heard that before?

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there is another meaning to the word cleave, which is "to adhere." Have you heard that before?

Sure. That's the point of my original query.

I've found that no matter how many times I hit something with my cleaver, it won't stick together.

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Sure. That's the point of my original query.

I just hadn't heard of the second definition. "To split" and then "to adhere" is a little schizoid, I agree.

So, now that we're all on the same page, is "cleavage" splitting or adhering? Or, as I initially suggested, does it change with size?
I wonder what someone like Robin Williams would think?

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I wonder what someone like Robin Williams would think?

Or George Carlin.

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Originally posted by Geoff:
is "cleavage" splitting or adhering?

You can look it up you know. (it's the first.)

"Johnston Office trade term for the shadowed depression dividing an actress' bosom into two distinct sections."

This makes me laugh.

Next question: what is or was the Johnston Office? I couldn't find anything in Wikipedia or on Google.

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Originally posted by Caterwauller:
"Johnston Office trade term for the shadowed depression dividing an actress' bosom into two distinct sections."

This makes me laugh.

I shall henceforth and forever refer to the Valley of The Boobs as the "shadowed depression!"

Thanks, Goofy, I feel much enlightened! Sorry to have made mountains out of molehills. I shall sleep well tonight, the shadow of depression having been cleaved away from me.

The sight of some shadowy cleav-
age can cause many man-parts to heave
And thus starts the ballet
When hot passion holds sway --
But what's next, I just cannot conceive.

Well, no matter which definition is correct for cleavage, still, it's interesting that there are two opposite definitions for cleave. Nice post, Geoff! We have discussed these words with opposite definitions before, though for the life of me I couldn't find that discussion. I did find one post of mine where my friend said she had a terrific stomachache, and yet terrific can be "great." Does anyone know where that thread may be about words with opposite definitions? Can you think of some now?

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Originally posted by Caterwauller:
"Johnston Office trade term for the shadowed depression dividing an actress' bosom into two distinct sections."

This makes me laugh.

Perhaps that definition should be added to the Wordcraft Dictionary.

It's no laughing matter, CW. It's serious business. Both Wikipedia and Wiktionary have articles on it, with appropriate pictures, and there's even a National Cleavage Day, sponsored by Wonderbra.

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Anita Meiring, public relations consultant for Wonderbra, described the event: "It is a day for women to realise that their cleavage is something unique and that they should be proud of it."[4] "It gives women a chance to be beautiful and glow in the furtive, yet appreciative, glances their cleavage evokes from men".[1] She also explained, "It gives men a legitimate reason to stare at boobs."

So be proud of your cleavage, ladies, and we men will show our appreciation. By the way, don't look at the pictures if you have gymnophobia, but you gymnophiliacs can ogle away, in a furtive and appreciative way, of course.

If you have gymnophobia, you'd best not look at pine cones! Pines are gymnosperms!

Good post, Tinman! BTW, where have you been hiding?

I was thinking of Tinman when I asked if anyone could find that old thread about opposite definitions. If anyone can, Tinman can!

A couple of threads where auto-antonyms are mentioned: here and here.

Wow, those links bring back memories. One is with Morgan from 2002, and the other from 2005 has Aput. I wonder whatever happened to him. If you recall, he was a linguist from London who one day came on and said he was getting off the Internet entirely. I have tried to contact him from time to time, but he hasn't answered me. I hope he is okay.

That first one regarding mess makes me wonder how the German messer might fit in. One uses it to butcher food or to eat food, so it seems somehow related.

Another word for autoantonym is enantiodrome, according to this authority. Wikipedia mentions "addad (Arabic, singular didd)." It also lists some contromyms:

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• "Apparent" can mean "obvious" or "seeming, but in fact not".
  
  
• "Back" can mean "regressive" as in "to go back in time", or it can mean "progressive" as in "to push back a deadline".
  
  
• "To buckle" can mean "to fasten" when used transitively or "to bend then break" intransitively.
  
  
• "To cleave" can mean "to cling" or "to split".
  
  
• "Fast" can mean "moving quickly" as in "running fast," or it can mean "not moving" as in "stuck fast."
  
  
• "To overlook" can mean "to inspect" or "to fail to notice".
  
  
• "Oversight" (uncountable) means "supervision", "an oversight" (countable) means "not noticing something".
  
  
• "Off" can mean "deactivated" as in "to turn off", or it can mean "activated" as in "the alarm went off".
  
  
• "Refrain" means both non-action and the repetition of an action, e.g. in musical notation.
  
  
• "To sanction" means "to permit", and also "to punish".
  
  
• "Shelled" can mean "having a shell" or "has had the shell removed" (as in shelling).
  
  
• "To stint" means "to stop", but the noun "stint" refers to the interval of work between stops.
  
  
• "Strike", in baseball terms, can mean "to hit the ball" or "to miss the ball".
  
  
• "To weather" can mean "to endure" (as in a storm) or "to erode" (as in a rock).
  
  
• "Weedy" can mean "overgrown" ("The garden is weedy") or stunted ("The boy looks weedy").
  
  
• "To dust" can mean to remove dust (cleaning a house) or to add dust (dust a cake with powered sugar).
  
  
• "Yield" can mean "to produce" (as in a chemical equation) or "to concede" (as in driving).
  
  
• "Resign" can mean "give up or quit" or "continue"

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I didn't know that stint and weedy were contronyms.

"To overlook" also means to be above some vista.
"To sanction" is also to "off" an enemy.
And, of course, "resign" is what you must do if you knock down a traffic instruction.

Oh, those are great, Tinman, and really made me think. Some were obvious ("weather"), but others weren't ("weedy").