Bad fix

>>One more way in which language defies logic is the abuse of prefixes, suffixes and infixes. You think that if rewind means wind back, refill means fill again, reload means load again, undo means opposite of do... that you can just go ahead and guess what the next combination of prefix and a word will mean? You're very, very wrong. Guesswork will lead you astray.

word

does not mean

it means

aircraft

craft using ways of, or producing, air (just like witchcraft, handcraft are)

an airplane

airman

man made of air

aircraft flyer

asset

not a female ass

a posession

balance (accounts)

eqilibrium, debit equals credit

the opposite, it means imbalance when they say "you have a balance there".

barman

maker of bars; man who is a bar

bartender

baseman

man from the base

a first, second, or third baseman (as per WordReference.com... and I haven't noticed that they love recursive definitions)

batman

tamer of bats, hunter of bats

man who is a bat

better

not the guy who bets, that's probably a bettor

cabinet

female cabin

depends on context - a government or a piece of furniture

chessman

chess player

piece used in a game of chess

crateful

full of crates

as much as fits into one crate

crystal glass

a transparent vessel made out of crystal

a vessel made of honed glass, which may, if done right, refract light like some crystals do; still, glass is not a crystal. On the contrary, it's the exact opposite.

discoloration

loss of color

has (different) color here and there

driveway

way where to drive

the piece of concrete between pavement and garage, where one usually parks the car

elephant man

tamer/herder of elephants

man with a skin affection such that it resembles elephant's

exhibit

opposite of inhibit

display, show

gingerbread man

man who makes ginger bread

a figure baked from such dough

grateful

full of grates

full of thanks

horseman

man who is a horse, or a horse herder

rider

inflammable

not flammable

flammable

inhibit

opposite of exhibit, i.e. hide (as opposed to display)

forbid, suppress

invaluable

not valuable

valuable

manhole

a human hole, a hole made by men (to differ from rathole); a hole on a man (analogously to asshole)

entrance into sewers, from the pavement down.

needful

full of need

what's necessary

outcome

expense or other opposite of income

how something ends, a result

parkway

piece of way where to park

road through a (national or international) park

recover

cover again (unless it applies to a chair with torn upholstery)

to get back or regain (something lost or taken away)

reflex

flex again

You are as good as that guy Pavlov in reacting to things.

relapse

lapse again

come back from a lapse

release

lease again

let go, issue

relocate

locate again

move somewhere else

repair

pair again

fix what was broken

replace

put back in place

take one thing out and return a different one in its place; substitute; OK, also means to put back in place

restore

store again

put back; return to previous state

reward

ward again

to gain earned value or a contest prize