Hello and welcome to the English Language Clinic. Last week, we looked at the two, opposite meanings of the word ?literally?; "I was ?literally? glued to my seat" (I was not really glued to anything, this is a metaphor) and "I was ?literally? fascinated" ? I was fascinated, this is not a metaphor.

?Literally? is a ?Janus Word?, a word with two meanings, which contradict each other. In Roman mythology, Janus was the God of beginnings and endings, doors and gates. Janus is immediately recognisable in pictures as he has two faces, looking in opposite directions; this is the reason for his name being associated with words like ?literally?. Janus? name can also be seen in the name of the month ?January? and in the American English word ?janitor? (a person responsible for corridors and doors, usually in a school).

Other examples of ?Janus words? (also called ?contranyms? or ?auto-antonyms?) include the verb ?to dust? and the adjective ?either?. If you ?dust? a cake with icing sugar, you are putting dust onto it. If, however, you ?dust? a bookshelf, you are removing dust from it. If I tell you that you can have ?either? an apple or a banana, I am telling you that you can have one or the other, but not both. But, if I tell you that there are windows on ?either? side of the room, I am expressing the fact that there are windows on both sides.

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