The ever lovable oxymoron! Such a bit of silliness to lighten up your mood!
A little pregnant. Calculated risk. Educated guess. Uninvited guest. Government aid. Legal justice. Organized crime. Necessary evil. Cardinal sin. Restless sleep. Wholesome.
I grew up in a house that very much played in vocabulary! We were a punny household that enjoyed learning the language and all of its oddities. One of my favorite games we played when there was about a hundred people over was "The Dictionary Game." Two giant dictionaries floating amongst the players. You found a word no one would know, spelled it for everyone, and each person wrote down their own definition. That word chooser then collected and read the definitions. We voted for what we believed to be the right definition. Those that fooled others got points and those that chose correctly received points and we all learned new words. My brother, Jimmy, was horrible as the word chooser. He could never keep a straight face while reading definitions. It was easy to tell who NOT to vote for, but always good for lots of laughs!
One of my favorite oxymorons came, I believe, from my mom's friend's dad. We were never an overtly eager bunch, but when things needed to get done we quickly set ourselves to task and got things accomplished. Along the way, undoubtedly, you would hear, "Hurry up! Take your time!" And no matter what you were doing, how intently, there was laughter.
My mom used to tell us about playing with her cousin when she was little. Her cousin used to dress nicely all the time, so when he got to crawling around the floor playing games with my mom, his mother would yell, "Herbie . . . get your knees out of your pants!" She didn't want his clothes to get all wrinkled, but my mom and Herbie would just laugh and laugh.
So, today, you will for sure take note of some silliness during your day. Perhaps the 'quick line at the DMV' or maybe the 'fat-free 40 oz double chocolate latte'. Make the best of it . . . and smile!
To infinity . . . and beyond!
Youve caught onto something that George Carlin made a routine out of. He also used jumbo shrimp as an example, along with military intelligence. The two words just dont belong together!~
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Dan would write things like "...a little critter that lives in the ground..." for his definition, which made it impossible to keep a straight face. You're supposed to make the definition sound like a dictionary definition.
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