Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for February 11, 2025

You can read for 20 minutes a day or look at 1,800 pictures.

Be quick and hold fast.

Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the first great dictionary of English language, was visited by a delegation of respectable ladies of London.

“Dr Johnson,” they said, “we congratulate you for omitting all indecent or obscene words from your dictionary.”

“Ladies,” said Dr. Johnson, “I congratulate you for looking them up.”

What do we think/assume about Go Comic’s change in April ?

(1.) I used to live in Reading and due to next door’s barking dog, l was lucky if l got peace to read for 5 minutes! ln the end, l put their dog in my back yard to see how they liked it!

(2.) Noah Webster famously kicked himself when he discovered he’d forgotten to include the word ‘etymology’ in his dictionary!

(3.) …and a ‘palindrome’ is a word that becomes another word if spelled backwards. Eg;

The word ‘Evian’ is a brand of bottled water. When spelled backwards, it becomes a word that describes a person that buys it.

Actually l often buy Highland Spring to cook with!

EXAMPLES OF CONTRONYMS ☺

1. Apology: A statement of contrition for an action, or a defense of one

2. Aught: All, or nothing

3. Bill: A payment, or an invoice for payment

4. Bolt: To secure, or to flee

5. Bound: Heading to a destination, or restrained from movement

6. Buckle: To connect, or to break or collapse

7. Cleave: To adhere, or to separate

8. Clip: To fasten, or detach

9. Consult: To offer advice, or to obtain it

10. Continue: To keep doing an action, or to suspend an action

11. Custom: A common practice, or a special treatment

12. Off: Deactivated, or activated, as an alarm

13. Discursive: Moving in an orderly fashion among topics, or proceeding aimlessly in a discussion

14. Dollop: A large amount (British English), or a small amount

15. Dust: To add fine particles, or to remove them

16. Enjoin: To impose, or to prohibit

17. Fast: Quick, or stuck or made stable

18. Fine: Excellent, or acceptable or good enough

19. Finished: Completed, or ended or destroyed

20. First degree: Most severe in the case of a murder charge, or least severe in reference to a burn

21. Fix: To repair, or to castrate

22. Flog: To promote persistently, or to criticize or beat

23. Garnish: To furnish, as with food preparation, or to take away, as with wages

24. Give out: To provide, or to stop because of a lack of supply

25. Go: To proceed or succeed, or to weaken or fail

26. Grade: A degree of slope, or a horizontal line or position

27. Handicap: An advantage provided to ensure equality, or a disadvantage that prevents equal achievement

28. Help: To assist, or to prevent or (in negative constructions) restrain

29. Hold up: To support, or to impede

30. Lease: To offer property for rent, or to hold such property

31. Left: Remained, or departed

32. Let: Allowed, or hindered

33. Liege: A feudal lord, or a vassal

34. Literally: Actually, or virtually

Thomby is a contronym. So is nyalpers. Gizzy. Wemph-nemph. There are THOUSANDS.

Wouldn’t the number of words that you are exposed to be determined by how fast you read?

Leave it to Cleaver.

Reading for 20 minutes is like breathing once a week. I need WAY more than that.

Thank you for this little girl’s appearance in this panel – I also read as well like her!

Noah Webster’s dictionary was the result of an argument with his wife It got very heated and one word led to another.

And two words that should have opposite meanings but have the same meaning: Flammable and Inflammable…

And a word whose meaning really can’t be properly used: Inconceivable… (If you say something is inconceivable, you just conceived it! ☺)

Oh, is THAT why the current US administration is banning so many books? Because they think “children’s exposure to words” is the same as “exposing yourself to children”…?

Fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing. There must be a term for that

That’s why talking to women can be so confusing. They use a lot of contronyms.