The Seven Deadly Nyms

Taly Sharon

taly@sharon-it.com
sharont@alum.mit.edu
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 The Seven Deadly Nyms
1. Contronyms
2. Heteronyms
3. Polyonyms
4. Homonyms
5. Capitonym
6. Caconyms
7. Exonym

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 Nyms (1)
1. Contronyms is a single word that has multiple
meanings that contradict the others
– Examples:
• Fast - moving quickly vs. firmly stuck in place
• Hysterical - overwhelmed with fear vs. outrageously funny
2. Heteronyms are words that are spelled
identically but have different meanings when
pronounced differently:
– Examples: bow, desert, object
3. Polyonyms are different words have the same
meaning
– Examples: Jupiter, Zeus, Oden
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 Nyms (2)
4. Homonyms are words that have the same
sound but a completely different meaning
– Examples: to, too, two
– Comment: Some homonyms are also
contronyms
5. Capitonym is a word that changes
pronunciation and meaning when it is
capitalized.
– Examples:
• You polish silver with ammonia and silicon, though you'd
never dream of applying the same to a Polish sausage.

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 An Ode to the Spelling Chequer
                        

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 Nyms (3)
6. Caconym is an erroneous name, especially in
taxonomic classification.
– Caconyms might be useful for tracking down
archaic or outdated usage but misleading
otherwise.
7. Exonym is a place name that foreigners use
instead of the name that natives use.
– Examples: Cologne:Koln; Morocco:Maroc.
– Using exonyms as search terms will likely net
results biased toward foreign information

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?How to learn more about Nyms
• Dictionary
• Thesaurus
• Examples:
– WordNet http://wordnet.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn
– Synonym http://www.synonym.com/synonym/
– Webster online www.webster.com
– www.Thesaurus.com
– www.visualthesaurus.com (pay)
– Google define:
– Google ~

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 Thesaurus
• Semantic network (graph) of related terms.
• Can be created manually or generated
automatically using statistics.
• Relations in the thesaurus can be weighted.
• Can be used to enhance and refine queries.

3 Like
Similar 3
2
2 Love
Adore
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 Water pipe
Synonyms:  conduit, hookah, hubble
-bubble, kalian, main, nargileh, plumbing,
sluice, steam pipe, water conduit, water

MainSource:  Roget's New Millennium™

Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)

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 Webster

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 Thesaurus - example
• http://www.thesurus.com
• Query: “can”
http://thesaurus.reference.com/sea
rch?q=can
– able
– container
– toilet
– and many more…

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 ‫שימוש בתיזראוס גנרי‬

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=WATER

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 Visual Thesaurus
http://www.visualthesaurus.com

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 Visual Thesaurus

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 I-Tools Language Tools
• Shortcuts to many dictionaries, thesauri,
and other tools.
• http://www.itools.com/lang/

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 Thesauri @ I-Tools
• http://www.itools.com/lang

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 ‫מילון ותזאורוס בעברית‬
)‫• בתשלום (גישה לאוניברסיטאות‬
• http://www.ravmilim.co.il/tour/defaultTour
.asp

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Learning Synonyms from Google
• Using ~ and - to find all synonyms
• example process:
– ~car returns keywords in bold (car, cars, auto,
BMW, etc.)
– ~car -car returns all except car (cars, auto,
BMW, etc.)
– ~car -car -cars -auto -BMW (motor, van, etc.)
– repeat the process to discover different
synonyms (up to 31)
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 Coping with Nyms
• Learn the different
meanings (using tools)
• Disambiguate:
– add words to query
– remove (-) words from query

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 Thesaurus – Historical AltaVista
Query Refinement
• http://www.altavista.com/

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 Historical AltaVista Query
Refinement (cont.)
• http://www.altavista.com/

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 Using Synonyms with Google
• Using ~ and - to select synonyms
– Example:
• ~Aluminum
• retrieves:
– aluminum
– Alumina
– Al
– Metals
• New Query: ~aluminum -ElAl -al-qaida
• When looking for children related but not family
oriented websites use:
– ~child –family
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 ‫טבלת העזר לתכנון השאילתא‬

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 ‫לסיכום‪ :‬שלבי הפעולה‬
‫באסטרטגיית חיפוש‬

‫• שלב א'‪ :‬לגבש את אוצר מילות המפתח‪,‬‬

‫הביטויים הנרדפים והנושאים הקשורים‪.‬‬
‫• שלב ב'‪ :‬לגבש את מבנה החיפוש (להציב‬
‫תנאי חיפוש בין הביטויים)‬
‫• שלב ג'‪ :‬להריץ את השאילתות ולבדוק את‬
‫יעילותן ‪.‬‬
‫מעמי סלנט‬

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 Exercises
1. What is the problem that can be associated
with each of the following terms?
Which category of Nym does it belong to?
a. Content
b. Root
c. Convict
d. Florence
e. Week
f. Record

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 Exercises
2. What are the different terms describing the
word cheap according to Google?
3. You are looking for stores for cheap buys of
goods, which terms would be right to use?
(hint try ~ -)
4. What terms does Google find related to fly?
5. Try searching for fly in the thesaurus and
visual thesaurus.
6. If you are interested in the recreation related
to fly, which are the correct terms to use or
remove?

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 References
• The Seven Deadly Nyms http://
searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.phpr
/2160501
• List of Heteronyms http://www-personal.umich.
edu/~cellis/heteronym.html
• http://www.fun-with-words.com/

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