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This message has been edited. Last edited by: jazzboCR,

They're usually called auto-antonyms or contranyms. Other examples are enjoin, fast and sanction.

See Wikipedia

Welcome to the board, jazzboCR!

Thanks to Arnie for the quick response. I am most definitely in the right place.

Nice to have you here jazzbo! Welcome and we hope you stay awhile. I am curious about Philly/SJ. Where is that?

I'm in South Jersey, about 20 minutes south of Philadelphia, in a very mixed (by race and income level) but somewhat stultifying suburb.

What about Oxymorons?

Good to have you aboard, jazzboCR!

An oxymoron is a figure of speech where two apparently contradictory words are put together for effect; sometimes as a joke or pun, sometimes for literary style, sometimes by accident. Usually they are an adjective-noun pair. Examples are Military Intelligence, pretty ugly, less is more, and so on.

They need not necessarily always be two single words; sometimes they are two phrases in juxtaposition.

The word oxymoron comes from Latin, which was derived from the two Greek words for "sharp" and "dull", so is itself an oxymoron.

quote:

Originally posted by jazzboCR:
I'm in South Jersey,

Thanks for the clarification. Most who have "SJ" following their name are Jesuits. (Society of Jesus)

Not exactly the same , as an oxymoron is 2 opposed meanings in the same phrase phrase, but being as I'm an expansive guy and it's a Big Tent, I'll accept that under the general rubric.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:

quote:

Originally posted by jazzboCR:
I'm in South Jersey,

Thanks for the clarification. Most who have "SJ" following their name are Jesuits. (Society of Jesus)

...And doubtless there are Jesuitical folks around here.

I suppose I could count. I used to teach at Loyola University...but then I am Jewish, so I don't know.