I wonder who comes up with these. Here’s one.
“Original copies.” Okay, let’s think about this. ‘Original’ means unique, creative, unprecedented and of course ‘new’. ‘Copies’ means reproductions, duplicates, fakes or models. So if it is a fake then it must be an original fake, but then, that’s another oxymoron.
How about this one? ‘Pretty ugly’. Hmm. Pretty is attractive, beautiful, cute, nice-looking and even lovely. ‘Ugly’ is just the opposite. How did they get together? Of course love is blind, isn’t it?
Then there is the one my Dad used a lot. ‘Same difference’. Same means uniform, consistent, even or invariable. ‘Difference’ means there were alterations, variances or modifications with dissimilarities. That is another one to think about.
The previous one is almost as good at this one. ‘Almost exactly” ‘Almost’ means nearly or approximately. Exactly means unerringly, accurately or precisely. Wouldn’t it be better to say, “Close but no cigar?”
Now this one is a favorite one of mine. ‘Definite maybe’. ‘Definite means a sure thing, certain or final. ‘Maybe’ means just that. Possibly but certainly not for certain. So this statement means not definite but it is a possibility. Why not simply say, “We don’t know?”
The English language leaves itself wide open for these oxymoron’s which originate from colloquialisms and become more widely used every day. By the way, if you look ‘oxymoron’ up in the dictionary you will find this: A phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special affect. It goes on to use as an example the term, ‘wise fool’ but I won’t go into that one right now.
Malcolm Watts