A Brief History
On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein co-authored a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, warning that the Germans were working to develop atomic weapons and that the Allies should proceed immediately to develop such weapons first.
Digging Deeper
Einstein is often cited as the smartest human ever, and yet, Americans often use his name to ridicule the intelligence of others, such as calling someone “Einstein” instead of using another slur such as “idiot.” Kind of like calling your grossly overweight buddy “Slim.”
Why is it that “Fat Chance” means the same thing as “Slim Chance?” When we say, “Big Deal,” we really mean “No Big Deal.” Why do we claim to be “Working Like a Dog” when we have never seen any dog working hard?
A common retort is “It’s a free country!” when in fact there are over 1.2 million Americans in prison that would take issue with that statement!
Note: American English is full of seemingly contradictory or otherwise non sequitur type of phrases. How did our jargon ever get so weird? If you know, please tell us!
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What are your favorite oxymorons?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Blumenfeld, Warren. Jumbo Shrimp & Other Almost Perfect Oxymorons. Perigee Trade, 1986.
Brett, Simon. Seriously Funny, and Other Oxymorons. Robinson, 2017.
