# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@Jarvis\_2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jarvis_2000)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/21 "2013-05-02T17:22:22Z")
“Dream Job”
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/22 "2013-05-02T17:26:03Z")
Here’s another one:
Reanimated zombie.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/23 "2013-05-02T18:43:21Z")
[Wikipedia is your friend!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron) Seriously, take a look at that article. It has a LOT of examples of “real” oxymorons. Among my favorites from there: bittersweet, guest host, open secret, sounds of silence
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/24 "2013-05-02T19:31:42Z")
> [@TomH](#):
>
> …I suppose that “giant midget” would be an oxymoron, but I can’t imagine when you’d use it.
[Minsc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsc) would argue (most violently) with your assertion, citing his beloved Boo the [miniature giant space hamster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_giant_space_hamster#Giant_space_hamster) as a counter-argument. But I guess you could argue that SANE people wouldn’t use “miniature giant” or “giant midget”. Or non-fictional people.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/25 "2013-05-02T19:44:30Z")
From Wiley’s Dictionary in “B.C.”:
humidifier - _hyoo-mid-uh-fahy-er_ - an Italian oxymoron.
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/26 "2013-05-03T02:11:07Z")
I knew an Australian to whom the phrase was indeed an oxymoron since their word for shrimp is prawn. Until she discovered, living for a year in the US (New Orleans, no less) that “shrimp” meant “prawn”.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/27 "2013-05-03T02:36:19Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> I knew an Australian to whom the phrase was indeed an oxymoron since their word for shrimp is prawn. Until she discovered, living for a year in the US (New Orleans, no less) that “shrimp” meant “prawn”.
I’m actually a little surprised that an Australian wouldn’t know the seafood meaning of shrimp. I understand that “prawn” is mostly used, but don’t they refer to small prawns as “shrimp”? This [Australian website](http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/what-is-the-difference-between-prawns-and-shrimp/) seems to think so.
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### Author:  [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/28 "2013-05-03T02:59:37Z")
Three-in-one, the US Army’s MRE: Meal-Ready to-Eat.
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/29 "2013-05-03T03:17:15Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> [Minsc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsc) would argue (most violently) with your assertion, citing his beloved Boo the [miniature giant space hamster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_giant_space_hamster#Giant_space_hamster) as a counter-argument. But I guess you could argue that SANE people wouldn’t use “miniature giant” or “giant midget”. Or non-fictional people.
I believe that in Baldur’s Gate you can get a conversation with Elminster who says something along the lines of how Boo **is** in fact a Giant Space Hamster… who had a shrinking spell cast on him. In that way “miniature giant” makes sense, because fundamentally it is the species “Giant Space Hamster”, but was altered to be miniaturized. One would presume that “giant space hamsters” have defining species characteristics apart from merely being larger than normal hamsters from space that Boo would have inherited.
(Though, regardless of any justification given in or out of universe, the name was clearly **intended** to make people laugh because of the apparent contradiction in terms).
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/30 "2013-05-03T04:37:34Z")
_Good grief_! Another _living dead_ thread!
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/31 "2013-05-03T06:01:12Z")
> [@Keeve](#):
>
> [Wikipedia is your friend!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron) Seriously, take a look at that article.
Probably the most important part of that article:
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
Although a true oxymoron is “something that is surprisingly true, a paradox,” Garry Wills has argued that modern usage has brought a common misunderstanding[4] that oxymoron is nearly synonymous with contradiction. The introduction of this misuse, the opposite of its true meaning, has been credited to William F. Buckley.[5]
Sometimes a pair of terms is claimed to be an oxymoron by those who hold the opinion that the two are mutually exclusive. That is, although there is no inherent contradiction between the terms, the speaker expresses the opinion that the two terms imply properties or characteristics that cannot occur together.
[/quote]
And this misuse would never have happened if the term itself–being a rhetorical term from poetics–didn’t sound esoteric.
In other words, the people who perpetuate these tired lists think they sound smart by using the “big” word; they probably wouldn’t be feeling so clever and amusing by sending chain emails with the typical George Carlin inspired list if they couldn’t also use the word _oxymoron_ in the process–however incorrectly they use it.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/32 "2013-05-03T13:11:58Z")
“Jumbo shrimp” is an oxymoron that is in common use and was before Carlin. He may have brought it to our attention that it was contradictory.
“Living in Philadelphia” is an oxymoron that is constructed only for a joke.
“Bittersweet” is not an oxymoron since sweet and bitter are two different tastes that can be experienced at the same time just as sweet and salty can be.
(Wiki is a friend only to help you get started researching something. It is not reliable.)
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/33 "2013-05-03T13:15:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I’m actually a little surprised that an Australian wouldn’t know the seafood meaning of shrimp. I understand that “prawn” is mostly used, but don’t they refer to small prawns as “shrimp”? This [Australian website](http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/what-is-the-difference-between-prawns-and-shrimp/) seems to think so.
Yes, that’s why “jumbo shrimp” is an oxymoron. Like tall dwarf.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/34 "2013-05-03T13:30:35Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> Yes, that’s why “jumbo shrimp” is an oxymoron. Like tall dwarf.
OK, then it’s not any different than in American English, which is why I was confused.
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### Author:  [@Molesworth\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molesworth_2)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/35 "2013-05-03T14:36:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> OK, then it’s not any different than in American English, which is why I was confused.
American English is itself an oxymoron. “Jumbo Prawn” is not.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/36 "2013-05-03T14:41:54Z")
> [@the\_diego](#):
>
> Three-in-one, the US Army’s MRE: Meal-Ready to-Eat.
… that’s not an oxymoron. Just not very descriptive (I assume that’s what you’re getting at).
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/37 "2013-05-03T14:44:00Z")
> [@Molesworth\_2](#):
>
> American English is itself an oxymoron. “Jumbo Prawn” is not.
I have no idea what we’re on about, then.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/38 "2013-05-03T14:50:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I have no idea what we’re on about, then.
Never mind, I figured it out. It’s even more a “true” oxymoron in Australian English.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/39 "2013-05-03T18:19:17Z")
> [@Keeve](#):
>
> [Wikipedia is your friend!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron) Seriously, take a look at that article. It has a LOT of examples of “real” oxymorons. Among my favorites from there: bittersweet, guest host, open secret, sounds of silence
I don’t think the folks in 2000 were too likely to check Wikipedia.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jumbo-shrimp-an-oxymoron/9631/40 "2013-05-03T18:43:38Z")
> [@Zoe](#):
>
> “Jumbo shrimp” is an oxymoron that is in common use and was before Carlin. He may have brought it to our attention that it was contradictory.)
But it’s not contradictory in the slightest. “Large shellfish” is not a oxymoron, so “jumbo shrimp” – which means exactly the same thing.
Yes, “shrimp” can mean “a small person,” but “jumbo shrimp” always applies to the crustacean and nothing else.
Carlin (or whoever originally said it) was making a pun (or, I suppose, a malapropism) on the two definitions, but the example was meant as a joke and is still a joke – i.e., not something to be taken seriously as a definition.
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