specifically with the case of words taking on their opposite meanings, a possible influence is that speakers appear to be quite bad at processing negatives. For example, speakers are liable to process pairs such as , or "No accident is too severe to ignore" vs "No accident is too trivial to ignore" as effectively meaning the same thing, even though "severe" and "trivial" have pretty much opposite meanings (this is similar to the "much to be desired" example, but specifically having a negative in the sentence appears to enhance the effect)
From this answer,
"No accident is too trivial to ignore"" means
Every accident is serious enough to pay attention to it.
But what means
"No accident is too severe to ignore"?
Every accident is ???WHAT DO I WRITE HERE??? enough to pay attention to it.
This isn't math class, but pls can you show all work and steps? How 3 turn into 4?