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Oxymorons Anyone?

Vincent Berg 🚫

Okay, continuing my investigation into different literary techniques (in a different book, though it ties into the Ancient Greek concept of Antithesis), I'm curious about oxymorons. Does anyone on SOL (regular) use oxymorons (i.e. by design, rather than accidentally or repeating common ones like military intelligence). Moreover, if you do, do you use the traditional 'those that this, don't that' or the 'When this, that' variations (i.e. how creative do you get in applying them)?

I think I've got a good handle on them, but I seem to only be capable of certain types. I'm particularly intrigued by the more unusual one, like Woody Allen's "Life is full of misery, loneliness and suffering—and it's over much too soon."

Replies:   LupusDei
LupusDei 🚫

@Vincent Berg

oxymorons ... like military intelligence

Swimsuit -- people in water should be nude, period. That's how grandfather brought me up, and I wholeheartedly agree. Well, he believed swimsuits were invented by communists just to mess with the natural order of the world... what probably isn't very accurate.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg 🚫

@LupusDei

Well, he believed swimsuits were invented by communists just to mess with the natural order of the world... what probably isn't very accurate.

Trust me, someone messed with that natural order long before communists showed up!

Honey_Moon 🚫
Updated:

All I keep thinking of is this clip!

LOL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgMn4u61z8c

Vincent Berg 🚫

So, I'm guessing that, no, there's not a single writer on SOL who's ever attempted to use oxymorons (etymology meaning literally 'jab with a dull stick')?

Maybe we should start a new challenge. How about this, just take a few minutes, maybe a half an hour, and try to add one to an existing story, just to try the technique out.

I did just that the other day, and during a doctor's appointment came up with seven or eight (though obviously, some were better than others).

All an oxymoron is, is a statement that while seemingly contradictory, reveals a bigger truth. Specifically, in literature, they form a big part of the most quotable lines for many books/authors. So it's a technique which would certainly benefit authors.

Examples are:

A nation is only at peace when it's at war.
~ Hugh Kingsmill

Acting is happy agony.
~ Alec Guiness

I am deeply superficial.
~ Ava Gardner

When you're done, include them here, just so the rest of us can make unnecessary comments, and reflect on which work, and which need a little refinement.

Any takers?

Replies:   Switch Blayde
Switch Blayde 🚫

@Vincent Berg

"Parting is such a sweet sorrow."
— William Shakespeare

"I can resist anything except temptation."
— Oscar Wilde

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
— George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg 🚫
Updated:

@Switch Blayde

Oscar Wilde really had a knack for this sort of thing. Shakespeare did too (both having studied the Figures of Literary Rhetoric), but he used almost all of them, whereas Oscar specialized in only a chosen few.

Radagast 🚫

My favorite is "An honest politician is one that stays bought."
Anyone who has dealt with blood sucking pond scum understands this one.

Replies:   StarFleet Carl
StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Radagast

My favorite is "An honest politician is one that stays bought."

I've already used that one in the story I'm currently writing.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

Politicians work for the people

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

Politicians work for the people

That's not so much an oxymoron as a flat out lie (there's no twist, or edge).

Replies:   Wheezer
Wheezer 🚫

@Vincent Berg

Politicians work for the people

That's not so much an oxymoron as a flat out lie (there's no twist, or edge).

Hey, haven't you heard? Corporations are people too! :P

Ernest Bywater 🚫

the most common one of all - - public servant

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

The biggest lie ever told: "we're from the government and we're here to help"

Replies:   PotomacBob
PotomacBob 🚫

@Dominions Son

The biggest lie ever told: "we're from the government and we're here to help"

often cited by Ronald Reagan.

Replies:   Michael Loucks
Michael Loucks 🚫

@PotomacBob

often cited by Ronald Reagan.

I believe he said they were the most frightening words in the English language!

Wheezer 🚫

Partly cloudy. Partly sunny. NWS, make up thy mind - and explain the fucking difference!

Michael Loucks 🚫

@Wheezer

Partly cloudy. Partly sunny. NWS, make up thy mind - and explain the fucking difference!

And 'mostly cloudy', 'scattered clouds', &c. They all seem variations on a theme.

Switch Blayde 🚫

@Wheezer

Partly cloudy. Partly sunny. NWS, make up thy mind - and explain the fucking difference!

What's an okta? That's a unit of measurement that meteorologists use when they're forecasting cloud conditions, equal to 1/8 of the sky (though sometimes 1/10 is used). When the forecast is delivered, the number of oktas covered by opaque clouds (meaning that you can't see through them, and the sun/moon/stars/sky are hidden) is described using "mostly sunny," "partly cloudy" and other terms we're used to hearing. Each of these is defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service in terms of oktas of cloud cover. The NWS Operations Manual breaks it down like this:

Cloudy Cloudy 8/8 opaque clouds

Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy 6/8 - 7/8 opaque clouds

Partly Sunny Partly Cloudy 3/8 - 5/8 opaque clouds

Mostly Sunny Mostly Clear 1/8 - 2/8 opaque clouds

Sunny Clear 0/8 opaque clouds

richardshagrin 🚫

"ox·y·mo·ron
/ˌäksəˈmôrˌän/

noun
noun: oxymoron; plural noun: oxymorons
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).
Origin

mid 17th century: from Greek oxumōron, neuter (used as a noun) of oxumōros 'pointedly foolish', from oxus 'sharp' + mōros 'foolish'."

Replies:   Switch Blayde
Switch Blayde 🚫

@richardshagrin

Origin

mid 17th century:

Shakespeare died in 1616. So they must have came up with the term after he died. Maybe from analyzing his plays.

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