# Oxymoron of the Millennium **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 28, 1999, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032 "1999-10-28T21:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 1999, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/21 "1999-10-30T21:19:00Z")
President Reagan. * * * “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.” “Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?” - Shakespeare, _I Henry IV_ ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 1999, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/22 "1999-10-30T22:18:00Z")
Responsible Liberal ---
**Author:** ![Rousseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Rousseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rousseau)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 1999, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/23 "1999-10-30T22:47:00Z")
Russian Intelligence * * * The IQ of a group is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 1999, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/24 "1999-10-31T04:25:00Z")
Corporate downsizing * * * “The saurians had no strange wine, no imagination, and they became extinct. And you don’t look so terrific yourself.” -Harlan Ellison ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 1999, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/25 "1999-10-31T04:39:00Z")
Liberal ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 1999, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/26 "1999-10-31T05:01:00Z")
One-word oxymorons 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 1999, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/27 "1999-10-31T19:48:00Z")
How about “Labor Day.” Celebrated in true union style by _not_ working. Maybe it’s not an oxymoron. ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/28 "1999-11-06T05:21:00Z")
Sports scholarship ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/29 "1999-11-06T06:36:00Z")
I went to undergrad at a school in Southern California called Occidental College, “Oxy” for short. Accordingly, the term “oxymoron” is itself an, er, oxymoron. -Melin ---
**Author:** ![JBENZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@JBENZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBENZ)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/30 "1999-11-06T06:51:00Z")
Pace Salsa * * * JB Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/31 "1999-11-06T16:10:00Z")
Civil servant (like the Holy Roman Empire, the Irish Elk, and the Moral Majority, it is none of the above) ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/32 "1999-11-06T17:10:00Z")
AOL Help Desk ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Shadowfox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfox)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/33 "1999-11-06T17:18:00Z")
An oldie but a goodie ## “Military Intelligence” Shadowfox “Most people would succeed in small things, if they were not troubled with great ambitions.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/34 "1999-11-08T02:27:00Z")
How about Redundant Phrase of the Millennium? One Year Anniversary. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/35 "1999-11-09T06:18:00Z")
Jumbo shrimp ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/36 "1999-11-08T19:02:00Z")
How about… Jumbo shrimp Rap music * * * Virtually yours, J Matrix ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/37 "1999-11-08T19:05:00Z")
Mr. Quayle,presidential candidate. ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/38 "1999-11-08T20:55:00Z")
Hospital food ---
**Author:** ![radar\_ralf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/39 "1999-11-09T00:20:00Z")
## This has been done before, but what the heck - here it is again: posted 08-15-1999 01:19 AM Oxymorons: Army Intelligence Neo-classic Deafening silence “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” And how about spoonerisms: “He’s a real fart smeller.” “…a bunch of cunning runts.” “I think you have it bass-ackwards.” A fellow named Sheb Wooley used to do parodies of stories under the name of “Ben Colder”; the one that immediately comes to mind is “Beeping Sleauty and the Pansome Hrince”, but he did several take-offs. And here are some examples of malapropism: “I think that it’s a mute point.” “Don’t take that fellow for granite.” And then there are some expressions that could have come out of the mouth of Yogi Berra: “Never eat on an empty stomach.” “You’re skating on thin water.” ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032/40 "1999-11-09T04:17:00Z")
No wucken furries mate [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymoron-of-the-millennium/11032.md?page=3)