Clearly understandable but opaquely complex

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I remembered just now how my associations around these terms were confusing, when in conversation with people who used them.
I think to my mind, something that is transparent, can be seen through, which suggests difficulty to be seen clearly,
Clear has more complex meaning, more opaque, easier to see, solid, concrete, I can see clear. I'll lay my cards on the table, but only after I've cleared it. If something is clear, it has clarity. If something is transparent, it's more difficult to see. Something more difficult to see is less obvious. Stupid language!

I can see right through you was also confusing when said to me or about someone else.

During my late teens and early twenties, I remember walking the streets and feeling like a ghost, I felt invisible because on crowded streets, attempting Christmas shopping, it seemed that nobody moved out of my way, it was always me who had to move out of theirs.

Do you have any other examples of everyday speech which appeared to you to hold a confusing contradictory meaning to how you instinctively understood it?

On a slight tangent to this, is Nike's famous slogan, Just Do it. A friend's girlfriend told me "Don't think, just do it". I agonized over this for some time. How can I not think? But I need to think. etc. Nonsense advice.

Are you confused between a metaphor that you have heard and something real that you are experiencing

Is this what you are trying to say

I'm talking about words that have dictionary meanings which I find confusing. Transparent, clear - both can be used in a way which means easy to understand, as well as visually, such as a transparent material, like glass. Although clear has additional meanings such as clearing, or seeing clearly which don't necessarily prerequisite transparency.

Conversely, opaque - can be used to mean something with complexity, difficult to understand. However, I think it generally has a negative connotation, but I enjoy the complexity of (some) difficult to understand things (which I managed to overcome the difficulty of).

My (young) mind found it confusing. Why does transparent refer to something easy to understand? Something transparent might be more difficult to see - because you can see right through it, you might not see it at all!

Opaque - not transparent - you can see it (clearly) right in front of your eyes. Why does opaque refer to something difficult to understand suggesting also, difficult to understand because it is (intellectually) of lower level, poorer quality.

Then there's the word concrete which I like, it's safe, reliable! Meaning, existing in material form, not abstract. (However I do like abstract equally as much, too).

You might not see a glass door for example, it'll be transparent, and you might run into it and knock yourself out. Is that easy to understand? Yes the glass door is transparent. But was the glass door easy to comprehend moments before you ran into it and knocked yourself out? No, at that point, the transparent glass door was opaque!! ! (because you didn't see it, because it was transparent).

Oh right I get you now

Thank you for explaining

I just recollected it, when writing about Marmite the other evening! Then wondered if I'm alone with this particular confusion over transparent/opaque.

Then wondered if there were other words which had been used in ways experienced as contradictory?

I guess because I took them literally - which is common autistic trait, but that is usually metaphors, rather than words I think?

Maybe the transparent/opaque thing is related to metaphor, perhaps?

Then years later in my adult life, as late as in my forties found myself reaching for the dictionary because I suddenly had doubts about the meanings of ordinary everyday words. Inability to express a common word's meaning to a child for instance because the meaning in my mind is held abstractly & non-verbally, almost just a reference, a pointer, a vague signpost.

You seem to be seeing these words in the context of looking AT something as opposed to THROUGH something,
Seeing clearly means seeing something with no intervening object/noise/distortion.
Transparency is the ability to see through something, Opacity (and it's half brother translucency) have to do with how much you CAN'T see through something.

When translating this to ideas, shouldn't one have to not only translate the object/focal point, but the concept of the medium being seen through?

I think I can see the puzzle with "transparent"

Its like for something you can't see

But it also means for something you can see

I think it's because the word means "to see through" if it's like a piece of perspex but if it's for a person then it's because you can see through their lies or whatever

So if it's for a person it's more a metaphor I think. And I know you know that already but I'm just thinking out loud about it

I don't know what the other word means because it's not in my vocabulary