[Ninja Duck]

Microsoft Works

[looktothesky]

Head butt

[Ninja Duck]

Postal service

[looktothesky]

....must...resist...

dry ice

[Supes]

Government Organization

[Supes]

Government Organization

D'OH! Just read that looktothesky posted this in the Homonyms thread. How about:

anxious patient

[civilian_number_two]

anxious patient

That's a good one.

Best can do right now is:

Pretty ugly or

Mighty weak (or mighty small).

[looktothesky]

highspeed internet

p.s - That's ok, Supes. If no one plagiarized ideas, where are they gonna come from?

[Ninja Duck]

Good ones so far!

Politically correct

[looktothesky]

Rubber Cement!

[civilian_number_two]

I hate to nitpick (actually, that's a lie), but many of these pharses are NOT oxymorons. The words in the phrase need to be self-contradictory, either blatantly or subversively (like an alternate meaning of the word contradicts the other word in the phrase, like with "anxious patient"), so something like "postal service" is not an oxymoron. The implication that the service is bad is simply a critique. Like I could put "Presidential Suite," and then leave the implication that I thought the hotel in question had nothing much to offer in its highest-priced rooms. But it wouldn't be an oxymoron.

So far the best ones here are "anxious patient" and (LOL!) "Head butt," but "politically correct," "highspeed internet," and "government organization," are just silly. Next we'll have someone throwing out "military intelligence." At least if we're going to do the cliches, they should be on topic, like "jumbo shrimp" and "domestic violence."

Hey, here's two:

Jumbo Shrimp and

Domestic violence.

[Enhasa]

I hate to nitpick (actually, that's a lie), but many of these pharses are NOT oxymorons. The words in the phrase need to be self-contradictory, either blatantly or subversively (like an alternate meaning of the word contradicts the other word in the phrase, like with "anxious patient"), so something like "postal service" is not an oxymoron. The implication that the service is bad is simply a critique. Like I could put "Presidential Suite," and then leave the implication that I thought the hotel in question had nothing much to offer in its highest-priced rooms. But it wouldn't be an oxymoron.

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two incongruous, contradictory terms are yoked together in a small space. Appropriately, the word oxymoron is itself oxymoronic, because it is formed from two Greek roots of opposite meaning -- oxys, “sharp, keen,” and moros, “foolish,” the same root that gives us the word moron. Other examples of foreign word parts oxymoronically drawn to each other are pianoforte (“soft-loud”), monopoly (“one many”), and sophomore (“wise fool”).

Just as the plural of phenomenon is phenomena, the plural of oxymoron is oxymora.

Oxymora (excluding ones already mentioned by others in this thread):

act naturally
advanced BASIC
almost exactly
alone together
awfully good
baby grand
benevolent despot
benign neglect
build down
civil war
clearly misunderstood
computer jock
conspicuously absent
criminal justice
death benefit
definite maybe
deliberate speed
divorce court
dry beer
dry wine
dull roar
elevated subway
even odds
exact estimate
final draft
flexible freeze
found missing
freezer burn
fresh frozen
genuine imitation
good grief
growing small
half naked
idiot savant
indoor bleachers
industrial park
inside out
light heavyweight
living dead
living end
loose tights
loyal opposition
mandatory option
minor miracle
mobile home
negative growth
new classic
now, then…
old news
one-man band
open secret
original copy
passive aggression
peace force
plastic glasses
plastic silverware
press release
random order
recorded live
resident alien
same difference
sight unseen
silent scream
small crowd
small fortune
soft rock
standard deviation
student teacher
synthetic natural gas
taped live
terribly pleased
tight slacks
twelve-ounce pound cake
white chocolate
white gold
working vacation

[Ninja Duck]

Well, those two consecutive posts kind of kill the topic...

[civilian_number_two]

Well, those two consecutive posts kind of kill the topic...

Yeah; wow.

I'd offer Enhasa a "high five," but I'm afraid she'd go to google and cut and paste an essay on the origin of "high five."

Geez, kid, I was just trying to set a different tone, not end it altogether ...

All the same, it was an interesting read. Some of those "oxymorons" are a bit stretchy, and I'd pull them from the list (especially "mobile home"), but a really good list all the same. "Civil war" is a good one I'd heard before but couldn't remember.

Ah, what the hell; high five!

[Enhasa]

I'd offer Enhasa a "high five," but I'm afraid she'd go to google and cut and paste an essay on the origin of "high five."

High five isn’t an oxymoron.