My Favourite OXYMORONS
What is an oxymoron?
The English language is a funny old thing, sometimes. It seems to have its roots in Latin, Anglo-Saxon and possibly more of our ancient languages.
Once in a while a certain word just makes me smile. Oxymoron is one of those words. The first time l overheard someone use this word, when l was a child l wondered who was the adult calling a moron?. It didn´t seem a very polite thing to say about anyone. l knew other children who meant somebody very stupid if they called the child a moron.
So forget moron oxymoron has nothing to do with being stupid. In fact they can be very funny.
Oxymoron : Figures of speech usually two words in the same sentence that contradict themselves. Some of my favourite examples are listed below.
Open Secret................. Surely if something is ópen´it´s no longer a secret.
Found to be missing.................. This one drives me potty. Often heard on the news ...The husband arrived home to find his wife missing. If he found her, she´s no longer missing , right?
Deafening silence ............ wonderful expression but going to a rock concert is deafening. Silence certainly isn´t.
Pretty Ugly..................Need l say anything???
Extinct life.............This is another great oxymoron. Dinosaurs are extinct. If they are alive , please let me know so l can run the other way,.
Definite Maybe ................. This one is an expression that l grew up with , it just meant yes l´ll be there unless something more important turns up.
l´ll be there now, in a minute..................possibly not a true oxymoron but an Aunty Kate expression that always confused me. Did she mean she was coming right now, or did l have to wait a minute?
More often than not.´l´ll be there now in a minute meant she would appear at anything from 5 minutes to ten minutes after, the l´ll be there now.!
The Living Dead..... Are we talking Zombies here? Films of Zombies seem to think they are dead people still living., always wearing ragged torn cloths.
Since most people are buried in their Sunday best l often wonder why these risen zombies always look so scruffy.
People who believe they see spirits of someone who´s died must really see something, l´m sure, but it certainly cannot be the living dead .(This train of thought could lead to all sorts of discussions about life after death, the spirit world and demons, but that´s not for this hub.) Either a person is alive or he or she is dead. Simple.
Well simple to me when l just want to look at funny oxymorons.
Yes l realise it is close to Easter and the most famous person to seem to be the living dead is Christ risen after 3 days in the tomb., but he wasn´t dead after those 3 days was he?. God raised him up, back to life, and he soared into Heaven after 40 days to live with other spirit creatures. So back to oxymorons, even the word itself makes me smile.
It seems that even the great writer William Shakespeare enjoyed his oxymorons.
In the play Romeo and Juliet, He has Juliet saying.... ¨Parting is such sweet sorrow......¨¨Nothing sweet about sorrow is there?. It hurts.
There are so many oxymorons in the English language. All quite acceptable. That´s English for you. If you have any favourites l´d love to hear them.......
