oxymoron

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The Word of the Day for January 9 is: 

oxymoron   \ahk-sih-MOR-ahn\   noun
     : a combination of contradictory or incongruous words 

Example sentence:
     "That's an oxymoron!" said Joanne, when she heard the DJ describe the song 
as an "instant classic."

Did you know?
     The Greeks exhaustively classified the elements of rhetoric, or effective 
speech and writing, and gave the name "oxymoron," literally "pointed 
foolishness," to the deliberate juxtaposing of seemingly contradictory words. 
The roots of "oxymoron" -- "oxys," meaning "sharp" or "keen," and "moros," 
meaning "foolish" -- are nearly antonyms themselves, making "oxymoron" nicely 
self-descriptive. "Oxymoron" originally applied to a meaningful paradox 
condensed into a couple of words, as in "precious bane," "lonely crowd," or 
"sweet sorrow." Today, however, "oxymoron" can also refer to unintentional 
contradictions, like "a plastic glass."





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