BL> "Brilliant" is another example. It has four distinct meanings
 BL> and you can only know which one by context.

 BG> FWIW, it seems that the most confusing words, or at least those
 BG> with the greatest number of separate meanings, have their roots
 BG> in French... 

  That's an interesting thought! I've never noticed, but it would make
sense - the way English steals so many foreign words.

  English has a poetic bent. It likes to take words like "brilliant"
and stretch the meanings (bright light to intelligence). The poetic
meaning usually ends up the dominant one. We Australians are the worst
of all - looking for opposite meanings to get a laugh with irony. We
even use "brilliant" to mean the exact opposite.

Regards,
Bob


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