What you ask is an oxymoron? Well I'll tell you. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (from 1964) states it as being a "Figure of speech with pointed conjunction of seeming contradictories (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true). In other words, it is a combination of words regularly regarded as opposites, that are used together in everyday life. The root of the word is as follows: Oxymoron, from the Greek
oxys = sharp, and
moros = dull / foolish.
Shayne's list 'o oxymorons
- advanced basic
- airline food
- alone together
- amateur expert
- athletic scholarship
- baby grand (piano)
- black light
- Brief survey
- Cherokee Pioneer (vehicle)
- civil war
- Congressional ethics
- criminal justice
- crisis management
- Deafening silence
- Death Benefits
- divorce court
- Dodge Ram (vehicle)
- down escalator
- dry wine
- elementary calculus
- evaporated milk
- even odds
- extra time
- fast idle
- flexible freeze (economics)
- freezer burn
- fresh frozen
- friendly argument
- fuzzy logic
- gourmet pizza
- governmental efficiency
- great depression
- guest host
- half empty
- half full
- Honest Crook
- hopelessly optimistic
- hospital food
- idiot savant
- industrial park
- irate patient
- jumbo shrimp
- junk food
- Lean pork
- Light-Heavyweight
- live recording
- mandatory option
- marijuana initiative
- Medium Large
- Mild Abrasive
- military intelligence
- minor disaster
- Mobil station
- No-good Do-gooder!
- nonstop flight
- old news
- Organized mess
- original copy
- partially completed
- passive aggression
- peacekeeper missile
- perfect idiot
- planned serendipity
- plastic glasses
- political promise
- pretty ugly
- random logic
- rap music
- Renegade Lawmakers (from CNN during the battle in Moscow.)
- scheduled spontaneity (From a Franklin time management class.)
- Second Best
- singular relationship
- standard deviation
- student teacher
- sure bet
- sweet sorrow
- terribly nice
- Turbo Diesel
- unacceptable solution
- work party
- working vacation
- soft rock
- jumbo shrimp
- short tall tales
- sound filled silence
- organized chaos
- definite maybe
- loud whisper
- little giant
- perfectly awful
- restless sleep
- little big horn
- hard softball
- shout in a whisper
- deafening silence
- Death Benefits
- hard pillow
- serious clown
- brave wimp
- dry ice
- non-stick glue
- wordless book
- quiet scream
- friendly enemy
- fast turtle
- troubled paradise
- warm glacier
- pretty ugly
- same difference
- sweet 'n sour
Am I missing any oxymorons? Feel free to fill out this form (in full please), and send it off to me.