From: utzoo!decvax!microsof!uw-beave!jim Newsgroups: net.nlang Title: Re: Surprising words Article-I.D.: uw-beave.338 Posted: Fri Feb 11 08:17:22 1983 Received: Sat Feb 12 05:14:58 1983 References: iheds.205 George Otto lists examples of words whose meanings have been reversed (obversed?) by usage, leading to confusion or surprise, words such as "decimate." One of my favorites is "comprise". Originally it meant "to include" or "to be composed of", but recent usage has turned it into a synonym for "compose", as in "The computer is comprised of a processor, memory, and peripherals".