Volker Bandke has asked for citations for my distinction between proper and
improper oxymora.
Very well. From, for example, the Wikipedia On-Line Encyclopedia (which is
reachable by googling 'oxymoron'):
An oxymoron (plural "oxymora") (noun) is a figure of speech that combines
two normally contradictory terms (e.g. "deafening silence"). Oxymoron is a
Greek term derived from oxy ("sharp") and moros ("dull"). Oxymora are a
proper subset of the expressions called contradiction > in terms. What
distinguishes oxymora from other paradoxes and contradictions is that they
are used intentionally, for rhetorical effect, and the contradiction is
only apparent, as the combination > of terms provides a novel expression of
some concept.
which is a szuitably elementary discussion.
The notion of 'a novel expression of some concept' is of course problematic
when it is viewed diachronically; but it is important to remember that
'deafening silence' was once, perhaps in Cicero's time, a fresh and novel
expression. (Or again, he may have borrowed it from a Greek text known to
him and lost to us.)
John Gilmore
Ashland, MA 01721
USA
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