Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Oxymorons are everywhere. Earl recently gave me some, and my son Kevin and I have had more than one laugh about them.

By definition, according to one Richard Nordquist (whose credentials I didn’t check, but he seemed erudite enough) an oxymoron “is a figure of speech, usually one or two words, in which seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side.”

Here are some of his 100 examples:

Alone together, cheerful pessimist, new tradition, plastic silverware, authentic reproduction, limited lifetime guarantee, devout atheist, exact estimate, uninvited guest, found missing, ill health, jumbo shrimp, larger half, one man band.

You get the idea.

Actually the ones that stood out most for me revolve around war: civil war (Really?), living sacrifices (This feels awfully prescient), partial ceasefire (This too) and military intelligence (?????).

Nordquist also says the word ‘oxymoron’ is an oxymoron. It’s derived from two ancient Greek words: oxys meaning sharp and  moronos meaning dull or stupid.

If you want to read more of Mr. Nordquist, go to

https://www.thoughtco.com/awfully-good-examples-of-oxymorons-1691814

And by the way, I’m writing this from my home office.