“Anywhere here will do”, often said to taxi drivers.
(well which is it? Anywhere? or Here?)
Or the ubiquitous “that’s just about right”
Is it right or not
PS - the first reply to a Lobsang thread — what an honour. 
“The building is a little big and pretty ugly.”
Runner-up: “Kansas City, Missouri.”
“Near-miss”
There’s a term for these, which slips my mind right now.
Related are autantonyms, which are words that depending on context can mean precise opposites to themselves, such as “cleave” and “sanction.” (“Cling to” and “chop in half,” and “approve” or “disapprove” respectively.) Some of these can get very interesting.
unthawed
Not exactly a contradiction, but kinda irritating: “Would you like that for here to stay?” [ca. 1982, Toronto McDonalds]
Vlad/Igor
Polycarp, how typically couth of you to say that.
Vlad/Igor
Back were I grew up, if you weren’t about to do something, you’d stick away from it. As in, cucumbers don’t agree with me, so I’m going to stick away from them.
isn’t
aren’t
can’t
don’t
Oh wait! I thought you said contractions.
Oxymorons? Or did you mean a more technical term?
My understanding is that a near-miss is actually a near-hit. That is, a near miss involves feet, or inches, whereas a miss involves miles. It’s not “nearly-a-miss”, it’s “a-miss-that-was-near[to-us]!”
Ouch.
I believe the CROMO* is now near to admitting defeat.
*Committee to Retain the Original Meaning of “Oxymoron”.
What was the original meaning?
Right now a contradiction is…Yes this is summer.
I’m sorry we are having the worst summer since 1969 and it is bothering me.
Almost exactly.
Something along the lines of “a deliberate apposition of contrasting words.” The classic example is “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
It was an elegant and subtle word, rarely heard until about a dozen years ago. It’s now distressingly popular in its new meaning of “contradiction in terms (generally unintentional)”. I mourn this passing.
Say it ain’t so! (And what, exactly, is wrong?)
I’m headed to NZ (South Island) in a few weeks.
Oh no! Xema, as somewhat of a language purist, I’m sorry to hear that I’m contributing to the decline. In my defense, I’ll simply state that I’ve always (i.e., ever since the late 80s) heard “oxymoron” defined as “a contradiction in terms”.
I understand. These days, you hardly every hear it defined otherwise.