www.sharon-it.com1

The Seven Deadly Nyms

Taly Sharon

taly@sharon-it.comsharont@alum.mit.edu

www.sharon-it.com2

The Seven Deadly Nyms1. Contronyms 2. Heteronyms 3. Polyonyms 4. Homonyms 5. Capitonym6. Caconyms 7. Exonym

www.sharon-it.com3

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

www.sharon-it.com4

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.

www.sharon-it.com5

An Ode to the Spelling Chequer

                        

www.sharon-it.com6

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– Caconyms might be useful for tracking down archaic or outdated usage but misleading otherwise.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

www.sharon-it.com7

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 ~

www.sharon-it.com8

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.Love

LikeSimilar

Adore

3

22

3

www.sharon-it.com9

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)

www.sharon-it.com10

Webster

www.sharon-it.com11

Thesaurus - example• http://www.thesurus

.com • Query: “can”

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

– able– container – toilet – and many more…

www.sharon-it.com12

שימוש בתיזראוס גנרי

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

www.sharon-it.com13

Visual Thesaurus

http://www.visualthesaurus.com

www.sharon-it.com14

Visual Thesaurus

www.sharon-it.com15

I-Tools Language Tools• Shortcuts to many dictionaries,

thesauri, and other tools.• http://www.itools.com/lang/

www.sharon-it.com16

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

www.sharon-it.com17

מילון ותזאורוס בעבריתבתשלום (גישה לאוניברסיטאות)•

• http://www.ravmilim.co.il/tour/defaultTour.asp

www.sharon-it.com18

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)

www.sharon-it.com19

Coping with Nyms• Learn the different

meanings (using tools)• Disambiguate:

– add words to query – remove (-) words from

query

www.sharon-it.com20

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

www.sharon-it.com21

Historical AltaVista Query Refinement (cont.)

• http://www.altavista.com/

www.sharon-it.com22

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

www.sharon-it.com23

טבלת העזר לתכנון השאילתא

www.sharon-it.com24

לסיכום: שלבי הפעולה באסטרטגיית חיפוש

לגבש את אוצר מילות המפתח, שלב א': •הביטויים הנרדפים והנושאים הקשורים.

: לגבש את מבנה החיפוש (להציב שלב ב'•תנאי חיפוש בין הביטויים)

: להריץ את השאילתות ולבדוק את שלב ג'•יעילותן .

מעמי סלנט

www.sharon-it.com25

Exercises1. 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. Rootc. Convictd. Florence e. Week f. Record

www.sharon-it.com26

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?

www.sharon-it.com27

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/