How to Have 'Serious Fun' with Oxymorons

2022年10月08日

「オキシモロン」という言葉自体が矛盾した言葉です。それは「鋭い」を意味するギリシャ語の Oxys に由来し、「鈍い」または「愚か」を意味します。シェイクスピアは、ロミオとジュリエットがバルコニーで会った後、別れるときのように、悲しいと同時に幸せである可能性があることを説明して、「愛する憎しみ」のように矛盾した言葉をひどく愛していました。(English) The word "oxymoron" is itself an oxymoron. The word "oxymoron" is itself an oxymoron. It comes from the Greek oxys, meaning "sharp," and moros, which means "dull" - or "stupid."Shakespeare had an awful love of oxymorons, describing how it could be both sad and happy simultaneously, like when Romeo and Juliet part after meeting on her balcony like "loving hate."

How to Have 'Serious Fun' with Oxymorons

An oxymoron brings together words that may have contradicting meanings but make sense in the proper context.

The word "oxymoron" is itself an oxymoron. It comes from the Greek oxys, meaning "sharp," and moros, which means "dull" - or "stupid."

Similarly, "seriously" can also mean "very" - so we can even say that a good joke is "seriously funny," which sounds an awful lot like an oxymoron!

Shakespeare had an awful love of oxymorons, often using them to show confusion, strangeness, or mixed emotions.

For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says things like "loving hate," "cold fire," and "sick health" to show how his love for Rosaline, which should make him happy, actually makes him feel terrible.

The word "bittersweet" - even older than Shakespeare - can describe food that tastes both bitter and sweet, like dark chocolate.

But when used for talking about how something feels, it describes how it could be both sad and happy at the same time - like when Romeo and Juliet part after meeting on her balcony.

Ref)

Discussion

A) Have you come across any oxymorons in English before?

Shakespeare famously used the expression 'clean is dirty, dirty is clean...' in Macbeth.

B) Are oxymorons commonly used in your language?

Yes, it is sometimes expressed as a proverb.

If you're in a hurry, slow and steady wins the race

When you lose, you win

The Knowledge of Ignorance

C) Have you encountered any English rhetorical devices you've found confusing?

Invisible Pink Unicorn

It is expected that because she is invisible, no one can prove that she does not exist (or indeed that she is not pink). It is a parody of similar theistic claims about God.

D) Did you study rhetorical devices when you were in school? Did you enjoy it?

We do not learn it as a special 'rhetorical,' but it seems we understood it through sayings and quotations.

E) Who are your country's most significant writers? What language techniques are they known for using?

i) Murasaki Shikibu - The Tale of Genji

ii) Sei Shonagon - The Pillow Book

iii) Natsume Soseki - Kokoro

i) The first place is the oldest novel in Japan, "The Tale of Genji," which was born 1000 years ago. Heian aristocrat Hikaru Genji is in love with many women. It is long when read in the original, but there are many opportunities where knowledge is required as general knowledge, such as exams.

ii) "The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon" is written in Japanese and focuses on hiragana. There are many short stories with a light touch.

There is also an expression of sentiment mixed with faint sentimentality at times. A refined sense and a sharp observation eye for things are fused.

It expresses the beautiful world of intellectual "Ito Wo Kashi'' in contrast to the emotional "Mono no Aware'' of The Tale of Genji. Written mainly in concise sentences, the length of one paragraph is short, and the content is easy to read even for modern Japanese.

"Mono no Aware" is one of the literary and aesthetic ideas, occasionally inspired by things seen and heard, a feeling of deep emotion and a sense of impermanence.

"Wokashi" refers to the aesthetics of intellectual curiosity and interest and beauty captured with interest through sight and hearing.

iii) In Soseki's works, there are a lot of wordplays, such as changing the order and using phonetic equivalents. It is said that "metabolism'', "reflection'', "unconsciousness'', "value'', "electric power'', and "stiff shoulders'' were coined by Soseki, but in fact there are older examples than Soseki.

As an example, there is a theory that the word 'shoulders are stiff' was coined, and examples can be found in Kabuki from around the end of the 18th century. Regarding 'roman,' it says, 'I created it because there was no good translation and put it as romanticism.'

Further Discussion

F) Have you read any books in English?

I have read the beginning of Prejudice and Pride. I was surprised that the mother who appealed to her husband that her daughter should marry a wealthy bachelor had always been in the same long ago.

G) What English-language classics would you like to read someday?

It's Shakespeare's Macbeth. It is because it expresses the good and the bad aspects of being very human.

H) Do you ever have to write as part of your job?

I used to have to write a lot of emails every day with colleagues in foreign countries, mainly in Asian branches.

I was in charge of export and import, so I had to inquire about schedule adjustments and incomplete documentation.

I) Who are the best writers you know?

I loved Haruki Murakami's novels.

Haruki's novels are typological in structure. The protagonist, who has a sense of loss and emptiness, is searching for something (a pinball machine, a sheep, a girlfriend, a wife). The world is two-layered, with reality and the otherworld in contact, and the narrative is propelled by the back and forth between them. Something evil (sheep, Little People) exists in the other world and invades the real world.

J) Do you know anyone you'd say has a way with words?

I respect the way the following three people speak.

Their way of speaking is concise, impactful, and impressive. It's as immersive as watching a movie, making you feel like you've been through the experience together.

Oliver Sacks: hallucinations reveal the human mind

What matters at the end of life - BJ Miller

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address