From: "john gilmore" > > Use of 'oxymoron' in this sense has a long history, extending from the > Alexandrian rhetoricians forward through Milton, Voltaire, Burke, and I. A. > Richards. The cute folk etymology that relates 'oxymoron' to 'moron' has > less weight, and it of course marks its users as uninformed.
The degeneration of 'oxymoron' to 'moron' has IMHO a lot to do on its usage in regard to politics/politicians ... "policial intelligence", "smart politics", "political correctness" ... The examples are endless. Shane ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
