English Language Vagaries

Many oddities abound in English, not least of which are the multitude of words that have virtually identical meanings. Think of 'ways to do things', which includes words like blueprint, conspire, design, guidelines, means, method, plan, plot, ploy, policy, scheme, strategy, tack, and tactic; and those are just some words for one example meaning.

Another vagary is the use of the prefixes pro- and con- as a catch-phrase. The former means 'for' or 'before'. The latter means 'together' or 'with'. Close approximations in either case.

Which raises the question of why we have the phrase, 'pros and cons', because they are not necessarily opposites. In fact, they hardly ever are. Let's look at some examples.

Produce and conduce - the former is to make, or create. The latter means to help bring about. Almost the same!

Confuse and profuse - confused is what anyone reading this will be by the time they finish, whereas profuse is too much of something. So, if one was profusely overwrought, one might be confused; but these are not opposite terms.

Proverb and converb - a proverb is a pithy or meaningful saying. A converb is a linguistic construction using words like being, because, and when, as weak adverbs, as opposed to direct ones. Don't ask me to explain. Thing is, at least both of these words have something to do with language use. Though you'd be forgiven for thinking proverb would be used to define words that form strong adverbs, and converb would be a nonsense saying. That's English for ya!

Convoke and provoke - these are close to the same. To convoke is to call together, like an assembly. To provoke is to incite to an action of some kind. You could say you provoke someone when you convoke a meeting. Well, you could. Regardless, both involve actions, and therefore both are action verbs.

Professor and confessor - a professor is an instructor with a specialized education, but also someone who establishes their faith or allegiance to something. A confessor is either a priest who listens to your vast catalogue of sins, or... wait for it... a person demonstrating religious faith in the face of opposition. Woohoo! An (in)exact match! 

Contest and protest - everyone knows a contest is a game or challenge between individuals or groups, with a winner and a loser. To contest is also to disagree with a decision. A protest is the same in that an individual or group may be giving voice to their opinion on something, which could be a disagreeable decision. Of course, you can protest a contest, or contest a protest (if you're really motivated). So, similar again.

Okay, so we've made a point. What about pro- and con- words supporting the idea of pros and cons? Truth? Try and find them. More examples:

Profession - if one has a skill that required study and certification and is using that skill to work, then one can be considered to have a profession. What if you have the skill, but aren't working? Do you then have a confession? Nope; you're either out of work, jobless, or unemployed.

Constitution - can refer to one's physical and/or mental stamina, the way a thing is made up or put together, or a body of agreed upon principles. But a weak constitution, a thing's unknown qualities, or an absence of fundamental governing rules are not prostitutions. Far from it!

Productivity - the rate at which something gets done, or the amount of work produced from a task. But what if productivity is low? We don't call it conductivity; we call it mismanagement.

Concessional - an agreed upon set of terms around something given, like land or water rights. But the opposite would simply be no terms, not processional, which is either an item used in a religious ceremony, or something like a hymn book.

Proscribe - is to forbid, especially by law. But allowing something is not to conscribe; that means to do obligatory military service, or - oddly enough - to limit; which is almost the same thing as proscribe without the legal aspect.

Conjecture - is like speculating on something before having all the facts. But a projecture is something that juts out, like a shark's dorsal fin breaking the water surface. Different definitions altogether, but not opposites.

There are literally hundreds of words that begin with either con- or pro-, but despite our daily use of 'pros and cons' to weigh the advantages or disadvantages of something, in reality pros and cons have very little do with opposites at all. Next time you're having a discussion on the merits or lack of redeeming qualities of say, a movie you just saw with a friend, try to really understand what's being said. Are the pros and cons absolute, or are they simply a matter of opinion? Even in the case of definitive pros and cons, the bottom line is, nowhere else in the English language are those two prefixes used to mean opposites. It's just something we picked up from our Latin forbearers; another quirk we introduced before considering the probable outcome.