# Is "jumbo shrimp" an oxymoron ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 30, 2000, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631 "2000-03-30T08:58:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/1 "2000-03-30T08:58:00Z")
Once upon a time in grade school, I was told that this was a good example of an oxymoron. Jumbo and shrimp contradict each other right? Well, sort of. Shrimp refers to a fish, not a size. Is it still an oxymoron if the word has two meanings and the meaning used in the oxymoronic phrase is not contradictory of the other word in the phrase?
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`They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety’
- Benjamin Franklin -
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### Author:  [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/2 "2000-03-30T09:24:00Z")
Yes, I believe so. In any case it is better than the other commonly used oxymoron, ie “military intelligence”. That’s not an oxymoron, and is a very poor example, (It is kinda funny, tho, but only the 1st time you hear it).
I heard it as a double oxymoron:“fresh-frozen jumbo-shrimp”.
Any better examples of REAL oxymorons?
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### Author:  [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/3 "2000-03-30T10:27:00Z")
“Oxymoron”, strictly speaking, refers to a device in which two contradictory terms are deliberately put together for rhetorical effect. For example, “belatedly premature”, “slightly in love”, “imperial democracy”. By this standard, “jumbo shrimp” is not an oxymoron.
I don’t imagine that anybody hearing the phrase “jumbo shrimp” thinks that it means “a large small thing” rather than a large example of the sea creature, so I don’t see how there’s any incongruity at all. I suppose that “giant midget” would be an oxymoron, but I can’t imagine when you’d use it.
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### Author:  [@Shagrath\_Borgir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagrath_Borgir)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/4 "2000-03-30T12:21:00Z")
My favorite oxymoron:
Microsoft Works
🙂
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“Oh dreadful angel of mine, enrich me with the vastness of your being…”
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### Author:  [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/5 "2000-03-30T13:08:00Z")
Just across the street from my office is a gas station/mini-mart called the ‘Mini Giant’.
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### Author:  [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/6 "2000-03-30T14:04:00Z")
Yep, it’s oxymoronic, they can’t fly at all.
::deafening silence::
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/7 "2000-03-30T20:43:00Z")
Ok, the “jumbo shrimp” bit started as a joke by Carlin. It wasn’t meant for literal transslation, but yes, it is a poor example.
“Military Intellegence” was also meant in a joking manner.
What about sanitary sewer?
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“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/8 "2000-03-30T21:03:00Z")
My boss is a hydromoron. I told him today, “You know, your hair gets pointy when you talk that way.”
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AskNott
"Measure twice, cut once. Dang! Measure again, cut again.
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### Author:  [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/9 "2000-03-30T21:03:00Z")
Just some random, probably redundant, musings on oxymorons:
Most things identified as oxymorons are intended humorously.
The term oxymoron does not mean a contradiction in terms; rather, it means an apparent contradiction in terms. Whether or not it is an actual nonsensical pair of words is not predetermined. The first example I had heard was **weeping optimists**. If they’re optimists, how can they be sad? Well, optimists look on the bright side of the future; maybe they’re sad about the past. Or maybe they just got something in their eyes.
How about **victorious defeat**? Like, when you sue the school district for the right to dress like a nun, and you lose the case, but in doing so you tremendously raise the consciousness of the plight of nun-impersonators in our nation’s schools.
Anyway, the point is, saying somebody made an oxymoron isn’t really a criticism; it’s only a criticism if they did it accidentally or if, upon further refection, it really doesn’t make sense.
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### Author:  [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/10 "2000-03-30T22:32:00Z")
Maybe this was local, but at my elementary school in Calgary around 1993 or so, `shrimp'' almost always refered to a person of small stature. In that case, `jumbo shrimp’’ would be an oxymoron. That’s how I always thought of it.
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``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.
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### Author:  [@Cheese\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheese_Head)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/11 "2000-03-31T14:11:00Z")
[http://www.oxymorons.com/oxymorons.html](http://www.oxymorons.com/oxymorons.html)
airline food
Amtrak schedule
British fashion
business ethics
casual sex
cheerleading scholarship
Christian Scientists
friendly fire
rap music
war games
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### Author:  [@Beauxeau\_IX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauxeau_IX)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2000, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/12 "2000-03-31T19:49:00Z")
I believe “deafening silence” would a common example of a real oxymorn.
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### Author:  [@Cheese\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheese_Head)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/13 "2000-03-31T20:09:00Z")
The “Great Depression” has always amused me. What was so great about it?
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### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/14 "2000-03-31T20:36:00Z")
great _adj._
\*\*1.\*\*Very large in size.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2000, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/15 "2000-03-31T21:23:00Z")
“Jumbo Shrimp:” an orgy of toe-suckers.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2000, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/16 "2000-04-01T08:23:00Z")
Also, a shrimp is not a fish. It’s a crustacean.
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### Author:  [@Nekosoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nekosoft)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2000, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/17 "2000-04-01T08:39:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by neutron star:
> great _adj._
> \*\*1.\*\*Very large in size.
## So if I went to a restaurant and had some great shrimp _that_ would be an oxymoron? How about a bowl of steaming hot chili?
Dojo. Casino.
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### Author:  [@JBENZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBENZ)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2000, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/18 "2000-04-02T01:25:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> ## Originally posted by Nekosoft: \*\* How about a bowl of steaming hot chili?
>
> Dojo. Casino.\*\*
That would be a triple redundancy, not an oxymoron. Culinary oxymorons include Heatless Jalapeno and Excess Garlic and British Cuisine.
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JB
Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis
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### Author:  [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2000, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/19 "2000-04-02T01:32:00Z")
I believe he was thinking of steaming hot “chilly” 🙂
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### Author:  [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2000, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/20 "2000-04-02T23:26:00Z")
See what I mean by many of the “oxymorons” being jokes & not oxymorons at all? Cheesehead posted a list of 10, 7 of which are only jokes, 2 of which are oxymorons (& 1 which is neither).
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