Grammar Moses: If the copy desk trims this column, will it be adding or taking away?

I've mentioned before that I take no joy from parsing sentences. It was a source of night sweats in high school.

I find parts of speech and cases more difficult to remember than the proper balance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in my fertilizer.

But every once in a while I discover a rule or a category of words that describes something I couldn't name before.

Thanks to Thomas Roth, I'm now obsessed with contronyms.

A contronym is a word with two contradictory meanings.

A good example is "ravel."

To ravel is to thread together, but it also means to disentangle. And, yes, "unravel" can be used interchangeably with "ravel."

Contronyms normally don't create confusion - the context should steer you to the appropriate definition.

But they can if you're not careful.

If you "trim" a dress, you might be removing fabric from it. Or you might be adding pieces of fabric to it.

If you "draw" the curtains, you could be opening them or closing them. If you're drawing them in the morning, the odds are good that you're opening them to let the sunshine in.

Unless you're a vampire.

If you "sanction" a new player in your fantasy football league, you could be endorsing her. But if she were to fail to pay her dues, you might "sanction" her by removing Aaron Rodgers from her roster.

I know nothing about fantasy football, so pretend that's an option.

"Dusting" for fingerprints entails the application of powder to reveal evidence. "Dusting" for fingerprints in my house means the removal of evidence that my cat has been dancing a reel on my dresser while I'm at work.

"I have always had a fondness for contronyms," Thomas wrote. "I can imagine someone learning English puzzling over words such as 'screening.' In 'screening' a movie, did they hide it or show it?"

Close, but no cigar

It can be particularly embarrassing for newspaper editors when misused words show up in print. You'll see from these examples that it's not always easy to figure out which is the correct word. The names of the publications have been withheld to protect the guilty.

• In a food section story about soups, a caption read: "Escarole and spinach soup is cleansing without that depravation feeling."

The word, of course, should be "deprivation."

To be deprived is to feel that you're lacking in essentials.

Even if this soup were to fill me up (apparently temporarily), I'd still feel it deprived me of flavor.

To feel "depraved" is to feel morally corrupt. It's not escarole soup that makes me feel that way.

Thanks to Dave Gudjonis for that example.

• The description of a home in a real estate section reads: "Features include a dramatic great room with coiffured ceiling and fireplace."

I do a little woodworking on the side, so I know a "coffered" ceiling has recessed panels.

"Coiffured" means to be dressed or to have one's hair done.

• "In a recent article I noticed that one of the Chicago mayoral candidates was quoted as having accused the other of perpetrating a 'bold-face lie,'" wrote Bill Murray (no, not that Bill Murray.) "Unless the offense was printed in one of those celebrity gossip or birthday columns, and since the attackee happens to be clean shaven, shouldn't it have been 'barefaced lie'?"

To that, I say "barefaced" or "baldfaced" are both fine, but not BOLDFACED.

Still, it's easy to see why people make this mistake. To make a baldfaced lie is to lie boldly, so it's understandable.

In that vein, you may have peace of mind once you speak your piece.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.