Pro's and Con's

[John Barton]

Journalism seems to abhor 'small majorities' and 'large minorities'. And tries to convince us that motives must always be "ulterior". I imagine myself trying to convince a court that 'my motives were purely citerior' - an almost obsolete but very useful opposite found in the OED. As also cis- (montane etc) versus ultramontane. With 'trans-(Himalayan, etc) strictly meaning across rather than beyond.

In contrast, they love citing the 'pro's and con's' of every debate.
Perhaps 'conversely' needs an opposite 'proversely'. But of course the suffixes pro- and con- are very unreliable in practice. Thus congress is not always the opposite of progress. Nor constitution of prostitution. Take:
Contest/protest
confuse/profuse, confusion/profusion
confess(or)/profess(or)
convoke/provoke, convocation/provocation
conduct/product
conjection/projection
convince/province
conspectus/prospectus
confound/profound
contract(ile)/protract(ile)
conation/pronation
and many more.

And why does the victim always have to be lying 'prone' on the floor, even when face up (i.e. supine)?

[Ken Greenwald]

aaa
John, I have a friend who's a pro artist.
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Ken – September 11, 2013

[Phil White]

Hi John,

Long time no see!

Lovely spot, although it is, as I'm sure you are aware, based on a false prefix.

The opposite of "pro" in pro's and con's is "contra", of which "con" is a contraction (conction???) in that phrase only.

Still a nice thing to play with, though.

[Ken Greenwald]

aaa
I once heard of an ex-con who became a pro.
________________________

Ken – September 20, 2013