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  • Ah. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "20 English Oxymorons".

  • So, let's get right to it. An "oxymoron" is a figure of speech that has

  • two contradictory or opposite words appearing side by side. So, basically, it's a combination

  • of two words that really have opposite meanings, but we use them, you know, regularly in sentences

  • and phrases. So, the origin of the word "oxymoron" is from the Greek for "oxy" and "moron", which means

  • sharp and dull. "Dull" is the opposite of "sharp". So, you can have a sharp knife or

  • a dull knife. A dull knife doesn't cut very well. Right? Which itself is oxymoronic. So,

  • these combinations of words here are oxymoronic.

  • What I'm going to do in this video is first I will review every single one of the oxymorons.

  • So, if you are already a native English speaker, you can kind of just read the oxymorons with

  • me, get a good laugh, continue with your day, and watch whatever other cat videos you want

  • to watch today on YouTube. And if you are a non-native English speaker, after reviewing

  • everything, I'm going to go back one by one, and give a more detailed explanation. All

  • right? So, let's begin.

  • Number one: "alone together", "crash landing", "devout atheist", "exact estimate", "found missing",

  • "minor miracle", "old news", "only choice", "freezer burn", "growing smaller",

  • "jumbo shrimp", "loosely sealed", "loud whisper", "original copy", "same difference",

  • "seriously funny", "small crowd", "student teacher", "unbiased opinion", "working vacation". Okay.

  • Now, let's look at these one by one, and explain why they are oxymoronic. One: "alone together".

  • The word "alone" means to be by yourself, so how can you be alone when there's another

  • person or a group of people with you? You're not alone. You're with other people. Right?

  • Okay.

  • A "crash landing". So, an airplane can land or it can crash. Right? So, these things are

  • opposites. "To crash" means to just smash into the ground, and "to land" typically means

  • to land smoothly with the plane, and to touch down with no problems. So, a crash landing

  • doesn't really make sense.

  • A "devout atheist". So, an atheist is a person who doesn't believe in God. The word "devout"

  • is an adjective that means highly devoted, usually in a spiritual sense. So, can an atheist

  • show, like, devotion to not believing in something? Usually, if you are a devout, for example,

  • a devout Christian or a devout Muslim or a devout Hindu - you show devotion to, you know,

  • your God or your Gods. Whereas an atheist doesn't really have a God or believe in God,

  • so they can't really have devotion for something. Right?

  • All right. An "exact estimate". An estimate is a guess, it's not exactly a precise figure.

  • So, if you go to the mechanic to fix your car and you ask: "How much money will this cost?"

  • and the mechanic says: "Probably $400-$450", that's the estimate. Now, "exact" means exactly

  • the number. You can't estimate exactly the number. You can only estimate a guess, or

  • around a specific number.

  • "Found missing". So, if a child goes missing, they get lost or kidnapped from their parents,

  • and then they are found by the police, in the news people say:

  • "The child was found missing." But you found them, so they're not missing anymore. Right? Okay.

  • Next: "minor miracle". Going back to the religious term a little bit. A miracle is something

  • that cannot be explained by science. It's something that is so amazing that it goes

  • against the laws of nature. So, really, something is miraculous, it's amazing, incredible. It

  • can't be small, it can't be minor. It's something massive and huge. Right?

  • Next: "old news". "News" means things that are current, things that are happening now.

  • So, how can news be old? Maybe yesterday's news kind of, but really, the two terms collide

  • with each other.

  • Next: "only choice". Now, "choice" means you have more than one option. Okay? If you only

  • have one choice, that's not a choice. So you can't have an only choice, you must have multiple

  • choices. All right?

  • Next: "freezer burn". So freezer burn is what happens if you leave something in your freezer

  • for a very, very, very, very long time, let's say a pack of peas, you leave them there.

  • And you notice the little icicles start forming around the pack of peas, and you take them

  • out and you have to like wash off or wipe off all of the freezer burn. Now, "freezer",

  • cold; "burn", hot. So, "cold", "hot", in opposition to one another.

  • Next: "growing smaller". So, some people say, like: "Oh, my bank account is growing smaller."

  • It's becoming smaller, it is shrinking. So, "to grow" means to get bigger. You can't get

  • bigger smaller at the same time. It's kind of...Doesn't... It doesn't work.

  • Next: "jumbo shrimp". So, shrimp, the seafood is, you know, "shrimp" means small. So, how

  • can you have a jumbo of something that is small? Yes, they are bigger than a regular-size

  • shrimp, but the word "shrimp" means small, tiny. So, "jumbo shrimp" is a contradiction.

  • "Loosely sealed". If something is sealed, this means it is closed completely. You cannot,

  • like, open it. So, if you have peanut butter or if you have a bottle of wine, and, you

  • know, it's the first time that you... You have never opened it. It is sealed. When you

  • open it-pop-you hear that pop, it's not sealed anymore. Okay? So, "to be sealed" means to

  • be completely closed. Something that is loosely sealed is not sealed, so you cannot say: "Loosely sealed".

  • You can say: "Loosely closed, kind of open", maybe? All right?

  • A "loud whisper". A whisper is soft and quiet. It can't be loud. Okay? Like, it's a contradiction

  • in terms.

  • An "original copy". I have an original copy of William Shakespeare's Hamlet or something.

  • So, no, you have an original or you have a copy. You can't have a copy of the original,

  • because there's only one original. If you have something that came after the original,

  • you have a copy. You don't have an original copy.

  • Next: "same difference". But if it's different, how can it be the same? Right?

  • "Seriously funny". Now, this one is debatable because you can say: "Okay, the word 'seriously'

  • can mean like 'really' or 'truly' in this situation." But when you think of something

  • being serious, it's not funny. It's very grave. So, if something is seriously funny, it's

  • like... It doesn't work. Again, it's an oxymoron.

  • Next: a "small crowd". A crowd is a group of people, typically a large group of people.

  • So, if you have a small crowd, you can't really say that it's a small crowd. It's a crowd.

  • Okay? I guess you can compare crowds and say, you know: "This crowd has 30 people, and this

  • crowd has 300 people", so maybe the 30-person crowd is smaller, but it's still a crowd.

  • And ask any one of those 30 people if they're comfortable - no. You can't have a small crowd.

  • A "student teacher". In university, people become teacher's assistants or, you know,

  • they teach while they are, you know, students or they help their professors with students

  • in their first year or second year .But a student, by virtue of the fact that they are

  • a student, shouldn't be able to be a teacher, a student teacher. You're a student or you're

  • a teacher - pick one. Right? That's it.

  • An "unbiased opinion". So, "unbiased" means that, you know, there is nothing that is affecting

  • your opinion. Now, some people will argue that it's possible to have an unbiased opinion,

  • but everyone's opinion is coloured, is affected, is changed by their experience, by their knowledge,

  • by what they have experienced in their life. So, you can't really have an unbiased opinion

  • about something, because everyone has biases or biases. Is it biases or biases? You tell

  • me in the comment section. All right?

  • And finally: a "working vacation". Vacation, away from work. Working vacation, it doesn't

  • really work. Okay? So, when you're on vacation, you're supposed to be relaxing away from work.

  • You're not supposed to be working, so it's a contradiction. But in the 21st century,

  • these types of vacations are, unfortunately, very common.

  • Okay, so if you would like to test your understanding of this material, of these 20 oxymorons, as

  • always, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And if you enjoyed the video,

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Ah. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "20 English Oxymorons".

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