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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
This may well have been done before, but there seem to be a lot of new members (myself included!) who may not have seen it. Howzabout coming up with a list of oxymorons?
Some obvious ones:
Religious war
Confirmed atheist
Jumbo shrimp
Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
A good one from the above site I posted: Tight slacksHere's another site that proclaims its being the largest online oxymoron site: http://www.oxymoronlist.com/
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Here's one from the above site (which has certainly questionable oxymorons, but this won't ain't): thunderous silenceAnd a final link: http://pages.city2000.net/~mking/oxy.htmAnd a final oxymoron from that link: "Happy Monday"
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
Religious war
Confirmed atheist
I'm really tired these days. How are these oxymorons?
k
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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I wouldn't call confirmed atheist and religious war oxymorons.
Just my opinion,
WW
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Joined: Jan 2002
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veteran
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veteran
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Is there such a thing as a "criminal lawyer" and, if so, does it really narrow down the search space?
k
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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There are those (not including me) who might say "criminal lawyer" is a tautology.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
I wouldn't call confirmed atheist and religious war oxymoronsIf confirmation is taken in the religious sense, the former is indeed an oxymoron, and also a pun. Religious war isn't necessarily an oxymoron - in fact, practically every religion subscribes to fighting the "good" fight in some form or another. OK, a fight that is more spiritual than physical may be meant, but waddya expect? Reason overruling gut reaction?   Here's a previous oxymoron thread, courtesy of wow: http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=57328It often strikes me that oxymorons and paradoxes should be meaningless, but quite often come across meaningful, and occasionally profound. You can almost think up a deliberate paradox/oxymoron and find meaning in it: Blindingly obvious. Infinitely well-defined. Fantastically commonplace. Brilliantly dull. And - tightening the circle - there are enantiodromic words such as priceless, invaluable and bottomless ( http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=451) Which all goes to prove that language reflects reality, in that opposites coexist all over the place, and at the extreme opposites have more rather than less in common with one another.  We don't live in a binary/boolean world. Another contribution to the new Philosophy of Words forum, perhaps.. Paradoxical FishonaBike
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 39
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 39 |
I'm not sure this belongs here, but I'm reminded of the difference between a generalist and a specialist:
The specialist learns more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing.
The generalist learns less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything.
These two opposites mean the same thing in the extreme limit!
Robert
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