Words & Language: July 2004 Archives

A entire web site dedicated to Oxymorons.

Reminds me of a book on my wishlist, "Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit & Wisdom From History's Greatest Wordsmiths", by Mardy Grothe. This book speaks not so much to short phrases as appear on the aforementioned web site, but seems geared towards longer phrases. One of my favorite examples would be "Time wounds all heals." One of my high school teachers was especially fond of that phrase when he was lacerating some U.S. patriot for his foibles. He had a way of teaching history that occasionally made it seem less like history and more like the hollywood gossip segment of the evening news. "Next up, here about Aaron Bur's private peccadillos."

Link courtesy of the Scout Report.