6 Comments

1. 

   My favorite does-not-compute “contradiction in terms” is not “tight slacks” or “hot chili” or any of those standbys, but rather “new and improved.”

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2. 

   @ Shrug – Thinking about the word “oxymoron” made me wonder what the prefix “oxy” is supposed to mean, which of course led to a medium-sized rabbit hole. The word itself turns out to be a contradiction: “oxy” traces back to a Greek root that meant “sharp” (smart), whereas the root for “moron” meant “dull” (stupid).

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3. 

   Yes. And “oxygen”? Giving rise to sharpness (acidity). [That is to say, sour stuff.]

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4. 

   For the non-chemists around here, Mitch4 is playing on the German word for oxygen (“Sauerstoff“), which came about because oxygen is an inherent component of many organic acids (with a -COOH tail). By the time those German chemists figured out that lots of inorganic acids (such as HCl) have no oxygen at all, the name had already stuck.

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5. 

   “Oxygen” is a more-or-less Greek translation of “stuff that makes things sour,” like “hydrogen” is a more-or-less Greek translation of “stuff that makes water happen.” You burn hydrogen, you get water.

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6. 

   Yes, and my phrase “[g]iving rise to” was meant to reflect the “-gen”; similar to MiB’s “that which makes ____”.

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