Let's play Oh shoot, what's the word I'm looking for

[Chris in VA]

Not irony. Like, when something is a certain way and also the opposite. Like, describing the Christian way of life found thru death to ones'self. The juxtaposition of two opposing concepts. To go forward, go backward. And then the adjective form of that. 

[scholastica]

Paradox? Paradoxical is the adjective 

[kbutton]

Just now, scholastica said:

Paradox?

Beat me to it!

[Chris in VA]

Almost! But there's another word. That gives me a place to start tho! Off to thesauro-thize! 

[alisoncooks]

Oxymoron/oxymoronic?

[stormy weather]

Enigma?

[J-rap]

Well, speaking of that...  Here's a saying I never really got a handle on.  When things start getting easier, is "It's all downhill from here!" correct?  Because the physical act of going downhill is definitely easier.  But "going downhill" also means getting worse, doesn't it?  I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to figure out if that saying is good or bad!

[Chris in VA]

6 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Well, speaking of that...  Here's a saying I never really got a handle on.  When things start getting easier, is "It's all downhill from here!" correct?  Because the physical act of going downhill is definitely easier.  But "going downhill" also means getting worse, doesn't it?  I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to figure out if that saying is good or bad!

I never thought of that! I think it's used both ways, really. 

I am trying to describe how God is, and I think the word starts with I, but I just can't put my finger on it. Looked in the thesaurus but didn't find it. Maybe it'll come on its own, given time! 

[Carol in Cal.]

Paradox

Both/And

Knife edge

Koan

Incongruity

 

[alisoncooks]

8 hours ago, Chris in VA said:

I am trying to describe how God is, and I think the word starts with I, but I just can't put my finger on it.

There's the word "litotes" which is similar to previous guesses, but doesn't precisely describe what you're talking about. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, J-rap said:

Well, speaking of that...  Here's a saying I never really got a handle on.  When things start getting easier, is "It's all downhill from here!" correct?  Because the physical act of going downhill is definitely easier.  But "going downhill" also means getting worse, doesn't it?  I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to figure out if that saying is good or bad!

My BIL had a debate about that once because we built a house on a road called Downhill Ct, which I said sounds negative. He said, “but going downhill is easier, why is it negative?” 

I feel this way about air conditioning directions. If you are making it colder, are you turning it UP? But then that sounds like the temperature is going up, which does not make it colder. I feel completely unable to tell someone what to do with the a/c except to say, “It is too hot in here” or “it is too cold in here.”

[Andani]

Dichotomy?

[J-rap]

18 minutes ago, Quill said:

My BIL had a debate about that once because we built a house on a road called Downhill Ct, which I said sounds negative. He said, “but going downhill is easier, why is it negative?” 

I feel this way about air conditioning directions. If you are making it colder, are you turning it UP? But then that sounds like the temperature is going up, which does not make it colder. I feel completely unable to tell someone what to do with the a/c except to say, “It is too hot in here” or “it is too cold in here.”

I feel the same way about air conditioning!  In fact, we had that very discussion just a few days ago!  ? 

 

[JustEm]

22 minutes ago, Quill said:

My BIL had a debate about that once because we built a house on a road called Downhill Ct, which I said sounds negative. He said, “but going downhill is easier, why is it negative?” 

I feel this way about air conditioning directions. If you are making it colder, are you turning it UP? But then that sounds like the temperature is going up, which does not make it colder. I feel completely unable to tell someone what to do with the a/c except to say, “It is too hot in here” or “it is too cold in here.”

 

Anytime I announce I'm changing the air temp because it is too warm or I'm I ask someone else to I say, "I'm/Can you turn the air up, or whatever. It just needs to be colder in here."

 

Edited to add:  I hadn't even realized I said this every time until my dh pointed it out

[Pen]

Ineffable 

[SKL]

equivocal?

[SKL]

Double edged sword?

 

[SKL]

Contradictory, incongruous?

[chocolate-chip chooky]

This doesn't help with the original question, but aren't contronyms cool? These are words that have opposite meanings in different contexts. For example: dust. If you dust a cake, you're adding the fine particles, but if you dust a shelf, you're removing fine particles. Another great example is the word 'left'. It can mean remain or departed: When you left the room, I was the only one left. 

I wonder if 'downhill' counts as a contonym?

Word nerds unite ? 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

This doesn't help with the original question, but aren't contronyms cool? These are words that have opposite meanings in different contexts. For example: dust. If you dust a cake, you're adding the fine particles, but if you dust a shelf, you're removing fine particles. Another great example is the word 'left'. It can mean remain or departed: When you left the room, I was the only one left. 

I wonder if 'downhill' counts as a contonym?

Word nerds unite ? 

Despite being a word nerd, I only learned about contonyms a couple years ago when DD encountered the concept in a college class. She also found it fascinating and so did I. The example she used was “cleave,” which means both to cut in two or to join together. 

As a further tangent, have you ever seen the bit floating around the internet about all the uses of the word “up”? It’s pretty fascinating, if you’re into that sort of thing. In some ways “up” acts as a contronym. If your car engine “goes up,” it is broken, but you could “fix it up” and then it is mended. 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

23 hours ago, Quill said:

Despite being a word nerd, I only learned about contonyms a couple years ago when DD encountered the concept in a college class. She also found it fascinating and so did I. The example she used was “cleave,” which means both to cut in two or to join together. 

As a further tangent, have you ever seen the bit floating around the internet about all the uses of the word “up”? It’s pretty fascinating, if you’re into that sort of thing. In some ways “up” acts as a contronym. If your car engine “goes up,” it is broken, but you could “fix it up” and then it is mended. 

This is certainly our kind of thing ? 

The other day we were looking up that weird (yet apparently grammatically correct) sentence that only has the word 'buffalo' about 8 times. 

http://mentalfloss.com/article/18209/buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo 

[Pen]

Have you found the word?

 

[Barb_]

Antithesis? Antithetical parallelism? I actually had to look up whether a parallelism could contain an inherent contradiction and learned that it can.

[Chris in VA]

Nope haven't found tbe word. But have learned lots of other words! ?