What distinction is there, if any, between an oxymoron and a contradiction in terms? Some dictionaries define them as synonyms of one another.

A related question: Oxymoron is a rather peculiar word. I presume the oxy- prefix predates the naming (by Priestly?) of oxygen. What does "oxy-" mean, other than in the modern chemical sense? Are there other non-chemical words beginning with oxy- ? And what's the deal with "moron?"
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05-09-04, 10:18 PM
Tree
From factindex.com:

An oxymoron (plural "oxymora", also "oxymorons") is a short phrase that appears self-contradictory. The oxymora belong to the genus contradictia, i.e. they are a proper subset of the expressions called contradiction in terms. What distinguishes oxymora from other contradictia is that they are used intentionally, for rhetorical efffect, and the contradiction is only apparent.

Therefore, I think they are one in the same! Wink
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05-09-04, 11:06 PM
methos
Strictly speaking, an oxymoron is a specific kind of contradiction in terms. It is a rhetorical technique using a contradiction in terms. As such it is intentional.

Loosely, however, it is used to mean unintentional contradictions in terms as well.



As for the etymology of oxymoron, oxys means sharp or keem, moros means foolish.



As for oxy, I can't think of other words not referring to oxygen that contain it, but it comes from the same Greek root. Oxygen means something that produces (gene) acid (oxy).

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Edited to correct broken link

This message has been edited. Last edited by: methos, 05-10-04 09:04 AM
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05-09-04, 11:42 PM
methos
oxygon - triagle with 3 acute angles
oxyaphia - abnormal keenness of touch.
oxyura - a ruddy duck with a sharp tail.
oxypolis - cowbane, a plant with sharp laves encasing white flowers.

The list goes on, but I didn't spot and can't recall any relatively common ones that do not refer to oxygen (other than oxymoron).
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05-10-04, 01:20 AM
Professor
Thanks to you both for totally answering my questions.

So oxymoron sounds like it means "sharp dullard." The word is self-referential!

methos, FYI your link gave me an error message.
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05-11-04, 03:47 AM
tsaeb
Can it be that to call something an oxymoron is to call attention to the moron who composed it, while to call something a contradiction is to confine oneself to the composition?
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05-11-04, 04:29 AM
FredPuli
tsaeb, yes Smile Must be.The Greek one gives attention to the moron and the Latin to the sentence, the text alone. Some quick research suggests so. The Greek gives us the image of some mentally defective individual who says something which seems stupid but which is in fact true; though he himself may not appreciate that, for once, he has got something right. So it's like 'Out of the mouths of babes (comes forth wisdom)' as we say; the baby doesn't know it speaks 'wisdom', only the adults hearing it see the wider truth in its innocent statement

Contradiction is simply Latin 'speaking against; a counter argument; an opposing statement' (contradictio)'. 'Term' is, curiously, from the Latin for a definite boundary (terminus) and is supposed to mean a word with a definite, strict, inflexible meaning ( a technical term, a legal term etc) You can't go beyond it; push the boundaries as it were. So 'a contradiction in terms' is saying the opposite in such precise language in one sentence that the sentence is plainly and logically inconsistent ; it contains two opposing, contradictory,statements yet it cannot be read any other way e.g as sarcasm or mockery but seriously and 'literally'.

The Oxford English Dictionary notes how in general, everyday, speech 'oxymoron' has come to be 'a contradiction in terms' noting as its last definition " general: a contradiction in terms " It's main definition is " A rhetorical figure of speech in which markedly contradictory terms appear in conjunction so as to emphasise the statement "

We have there lost something over time; a good Greek image becoming just an everyday plain statement.

Methos; you missed out oxycrate (a mixture of vinegar and water ), oxymel ( a medicinal drink or syrup of vinegar and honey) and (how could you? ) oxybaphon ( a bell shaped cup or vase; a sour or acidic liquid )
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05-11-04, 11:49 AM
coldfuse
I am in shock that no one has mentioned oxyaena, felines of the eocene era.
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05-11-04, 01:32 PM
maiku
The term oxymoron belongs to the field of rhetoric, not logic, and it does not originally mean the same thing as a simple contradiction in terms.

As the Greek etymology adduced already above shows, it described a figure of speech which was a "pointed" or "sharp" foolishness. Contrary to what Fred says, I think the point of such a rhetorical figure is the "sharpness" of the figure, not its foolishness, so that it was originally not something thought of as produced accidentally by fools, but instead something produced deliberately by master rhetoricians to make a point.

This is a question of putting the emphasis in the right place, that's all. I don't disagree otherwise with Fred's excellent explication.

When Juliet says "Parting is such sweet sorrow..." she is employing an oxymoron. The terms "sweet" and ""sorrow" clash, to be sure, but they are at most apparently contradictory. Juliet is not contradicting herself when she says this. She is creating a new meaning out of the clash of the original meanings. That's what an oxymoron does and what a contradiction in terms doesn't.

Please pay attention to the dictionary definitions which talk about the "apparent" contradictoriness of the terms of a true oxymoron. The word "apparent" is the key one.

An oxymoron is not the same thing as a contradiction in terms, and has never been so used by rhetoricians or literary critics, although it is commonly used in that way nowadays (particularly since General Schwartzkopf's use of it in reference to the phrase "military intelligence" in a news conference in the first installment of the current Gulf War), and although this use is recorded by certain dictionaries. The use people put words to is not necessarily the best use.

Here is a principle about lexicography which I hope people will bear in mind. Dictionaries record usage. They do not serve as an automatic stamp of approval of the usages they record, and they are not, and should never be taken to be, arbiters of the best usage.

Careful writers and thinkers will continue to avoid using the term "oxymoron" to mean nothing other than a contradiction in terms. As Fred said, something has been lost when we spoil the word in this way.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: maiku, 05-11-04 02:15 PM
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05-11-04, 02:26 PM
FredPuli
Yes maiku ; I intended to convey that my supposition was that the rhetorical figure was so named because it was just like something a fool might say, prima facie a juxtaposition of inconsistent opposites, whilst in fact it was a clever, sharp (as in acid or as in keen -witted) emphasis of a truth.
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05-11-04, 02:53 PM
FredPuli
Coldfuse; the Shorter Oxford doesn't give your extinct cats. Obviously the editors did not think we would meet or use it in our casual conversation; it's reserved for the full Oxford , no doubt. I do hope so, because of the insight it gives into their Oxonian minds. They give others which they must expect us to meet and use (see above post). Of those I've not yet given the most useful must be :

oxycephalic

It means 'pointy-headed'. Now, how can we go on without that useful word, now that we have it on AP ? Think of all the pointy- heads we know of and never had the proper word for.

From now on it's on the favourite list with the beautiful 'steatopygous'. That word was applied by a critic to an actress here. Once she found out what it meant she sued for defamation. Our Court of Appeal held it was 'fair comment', so she lost. I don't think they inspected her to decide the issue, though perhaps their Lordships did for strictly legal reasons, you understand Wink

Steatopygous turned out to mean having a fat, sticky-out rear end; having protuberant buttocks 'due to accumulation of fat in and behind the hips and thighs' as the Oxford defines the condition.
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05-12-04, 08:29 PM
maiku

quote:Originally posted by FredPuli:
Yes maiku ; I intended to convey that my supposition was that the rhetorical figure was so _named_ because it was just like something a fool might say, prima facie a juxtaposition of inconsistent opposites, whilst in fact it was a clever, sharp (as in acid or as in keen -witted) emphasis of a truth.



I'm happy to hear that what you intended to convey agrees with what I, also, intended to convey. It just seemed to me a little bit like what you actually said the first time around was a tad different from what you now say you intended to convey.

Just looking for clarification here.

P.S. The extinct species of cat coldfuse mentions doesn't show up in my full edition of the OED, either. On the other hand, there are dozens of other words it does include which have so far not been referred to in this thread. I refrain from listing any of these here. So what? This thread was supposed to be about the meaning of the term "oxymoron," not about how many abstruse terms with the Greek prefix "oxy" one could drag in.

However, I will remind you of one other term with the Greek -oxy- in it that seems to have escaped notice. In the thread started by Juan Ruiz, asking for an English word for words stressed on the antepenultimate syllable, Doñadiana supplied us with the word proparoxytonic.

I'm constantly surprised to see how little attention certain people active in this forum pay to previous posts.
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05-12-04, 11:53 PM
tsaeb
Now, if you have nerves of steel, go and type some oxymorons into a search engine to see whether the search engine can understand them. My suspicion is no, further indicating that no moron is behind oxymorons.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,