Nathan Bierma had some questions in his <I>On Language</I> column that I found intriguing. Shu and I had different answers to them. What would you say?The recipe is "deceptively simple." What does this mean?It is truly simple, but appears difficultIt is truly difficult but appears simpleImpossible to determineThe pool is "deceptively shallow." What does that mean?The pool is shallower than it appearsThe pool is deepImpossible to determine

The answers I need aren't there so I'll post them here.

1. The recipe is simple but produces a result that looks as if it were complicated.

2. The pool is shallow but dangerous.

Both phrases are ambigious and frequently misused. It's a bit like the "bi-annual" expression - does that mean twive a year or every two years?

I'd avoid the expressions myself, unless the context made them 100% clear.

Bob, you and I are on the same page with both those definitions. I think both your definitions are accurately portrayed with the first selection in each question.

I hated to put the third selection because I knew many would choose that one. I think most of us have an idea what they both mean, though all of us realize they aren't clear.