# Oxymorons
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 16, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994 "2000-02-16T22:06:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/41 "2014-08-17T23:02:26Z")
A Wiley’s Dictionary entry from the comic strip _B.C._:
humidifier - an Italian oxymoron.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/42 "2014-08-17T23:24:13Z")
> [@Vestal\_Blue](#):
>
> Fast Food
I don’t see how this is an oxymoron. It’s food-fast. ?
> [@Dirty\_Devil](#):
>
> Suicide victim
Ouch.
> [@Eve](#):
>
> Republican Party.
Disagree. A party can be “Republican”. That just means it’s stiff and boring and over by 9p.m. 😃
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/43 "2014-08-17T23:27:29Z")
I see “civil” has already got a work out, but
Civil Engineer
Engineers, of course, were the original nerds: [tact](http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/tact.html)
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/44 "2014-08-17T23:45:00Z")
The Hospitality industry.
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### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/45 "2014-08-18T00:17:18Z")
> [@the\_Scarlet\_Pimpernel](#):
>
> non-fat buttermilk
That’s not an oxymoron. Buttermilk is the stuff left over after churning and taking the butterfat out. Redundant, maybe, but not contradictory.
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/46 "2014-08-18T00:18:06Z")
> [@fighting\_ignorant](#):
>
> Lovely zombie
Living dead.
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### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/47 "2014-08-18T00:18:32Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#):
>
> silent alarm
One can have a purely visual alarm that is silent. “Alarm” means to alert, not necessarily with noise.
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### Author:  [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/48 "2014-08-18T07:25:10Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> Disagree. A party can be “Republican”. That just means it’s stiff and boring and over by 9p.m. 😃
Okay, what about “Progressive Conservative”
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> A Wiley’s Dictionary entry from the comic strip _B.C._:
> humidifier - an Italian oxymoron.
Please explain
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/13994/49 "2014-08-18T09:58:26Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> A Wiley’s Dictionary entry from the comic strip _B.C._:
>
> humidifier - an Italian oxymoron.
> [@Namkcalb](#):
>
> Please explain
Spoken in a stereotypical Italian accent (think of Mario and Luigi), it would sound like “humid-a fire.” Of course a humid fire is an oxymoron.
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