Language
Ever heard of a retronym? Consider the following, from a recent story in the sports section of The Dallas Morning News:
And the Rangers are doing their own thinking. Lots of it. Over fresh, hot, caffeinated coffee.
Before there was decaffeinated coffee, there was just plain old coffee, replete with caffeine. Once we got decaffeinated coffee, we needed to distinguish it from the real thing. Hence, caffeinated coffee. Another example: guitar; electric guitar; acoustic guitar. See here. If you have other examples, please post them in the comments section.
Posted at 6:59 PM CT on Thursday, 31 March 2005
My suggestion: 'absolute truth.' If it weren't for boneheads who went around talking about relative truth, there would be no need for 'absolute truth.' One would just say 'truth.' 'Absolute truth' is thus like 'caffeinated coffee.'
But this is tricky stuff, and I don't want to give away all my ideas here.