Oxymoron, DYK Fact #58

Did you know? An oxymoron is “a figure of speech that combines two usually contradictory terms in a compressed paradox, as in the word bittersweet or the phrase living death” (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Chris Baldick, first edition, 1990).

An example of an oxymoron I recently came across while pillaging on the Hunter Ocean is the juxtaposition of Booched and Incredible as captured in the following screenie:

Would something that’s a little big look pretty ugly?

I don’t know. I’m utterly speechless.

Oxymorons are used all the time, most of the time without our realizing it at all – indeed, it can be quite a challenge is to spot one exactly when it's being used! However, I once spotted an oxymoron myself while reading a news article. It was this BBC article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4400208.stm

The last three words form an oxymoronic phrase.

I don’t really agree that oxymorons are paradoxes. Oxymorons make sense – their meaning is straightforward; it is only when we try and analyse them that they appear to be “funny”. For example, there is nothing wrong with saying that a car is “slowing down quickly” or “speeding up slowly” – it means that if v is the car’s velocity and t is time, dv/dt is negative with a large absolute value or positive with a small absolute value respectively. A paradox, on the other hand, is something that has no logical solution (e.g. liar paradox, barber paradox).

Did you know? The title of Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut provides yet another example of an oxymoron.

Did you know? In Chapter 49 (Volume III Chapter XIII) of Jane Austen’s Emma, Mr (George) Knightley – who was in love with Emma – thought of Emma as “faultless in spite of all her faults”.

Is that an oxymoron? If it is, it’s a brilliant one!

Another “brilliant” oxymoron:

still beating heart

Written by someone on the Hunter Ocean Unofficial Forums.

Did you know? Clay that's been left out in the sun is hardly soft.

Did you know? A half-naked person is barely dressed.

Did you know? A small amount is scarcely a lot.

Did you know? A desperate philanthropist badly wants to do good.

What about ... "really imaginative"? Does that count as an oxymoron?

I think so.

Did you know? There exists an entity that is both real and imaginary. It’s the number 0 – regarded as the complex number 0+0i.

Did you know? In general topology, there exist sets that are both open and closed!

Did you know?

They are called clopen sets.

Did you know? The title of one of Elliott Carter’s compositions is oxymoronic: Triple Duo.

On Thursday, I had a whole half-chicken for supper. That's an oxymoron, isn't it? It was half a spring chicken, and I ate the whole of it!

Did you know? The thermodynamic concept of entropy can be described oxymoronically as “order of disorder”.

http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?134169-entropy-and-expansion-of-universe&p=3056477#post3056477