Oxymoron
That word almost sounds insulting. I feel like saying “Who’s a moron?” Of course we know that it is a combination of contradictory words. The first time that I ever heard of the term oxymoron was in the movie Renaissance Man starring Danny Devito. I don’t know the derivation or origin of the word but I like it. Oxymorons are everywhere. I saw some oxymoronic phrases on the internet such as: small crowd, soft rock, sweet sorrow (Shakespeare?), peace force, twelve-ounce pound cake, and the list just goes on and on. Then one day I was driving in downtown Miami when I saw this sign. I couldn’t believe my eyes that they would put both of these onto the same billboard. Could this be considered an oxymoron also?
The top half of the sign is promoting smoking and the bottom half of the sign warns of dangers to the lung from radon gas. It just doesn’t make sense to me since it is generally accepted that smoking has a risk of lung cancer with. Curiously though, my great grandfather who lived into his very late 80’s smoked camels all his life and never got lung cancer or any kind of cancer. So you just never know but I found this sign curious none-the-less.
That word almost sounds insulting. I feel like saying “Who’s a moron?” Of course we know that it is a combination of contradictory words. The first time that I ever heard of the term oxymoron was in the movie Renaissance Man starring Danny Devito. I don’t know the derivation or origin of the word but I like it. Oxymorons are everywhere. I saw some oxymoronic phrases on the internet such as: small crowd, soft rock, sweet sorrow (Shakespeare?), peace force, twelve-ounce pound cake, and the list just goes on and on. Then one day I was driving in downtown Miami when I saw this sign. I couldn’t believe my eyes that they would put both of these onto the same billboard. Could this be considered an oxymoron also?
The top half of the sign is promoting smoking and the bottom half of the sign warns of dangers to the lung from radon gas. It just doesn’t make sense to me since it is generally accepted that smoking has a risk of lung cancer with. Curiously though, my great grandfather who lived into his very late 80’s smoked camels all his life and never got lung cancer or any kind of cancer. So you just never know but I found this sign curious none-the-less.
1 comment:
Good point.
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