I LOVE OXYMORONS. My favorite oxymorons? As a sports fan, I'd have to say "ball club" is up there. The term is used for a sports team (perhaps the New York Yankees), but a ball is one thing, and a club is another. Actually, you club a baseball with a bat.
As a former auto-racing writer, "race-car motor" is up there. A race car usually has an engine of 500 horsepower or more. NASCAR drivers talked about a 750-HP Cup engine as a motor. Most racers do NOT have motors; they have ENGINES.
I wonder ... can you have a 12-ounce pound cake? Wouldn't it be 16 ounces?
And are adult children adults or children? Or both?
WORD OF THE DAY: Sock.
Sock is one of those great words (apparently derived from the Latin word soccus, slipper). It's an article of clothing to cover the foot. If you sock me in the jaw, it's a bad thing (I'll sock you back). If you sock it to me (as they used to say on TV's Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In), it would be a good thing. There's a wind sock or windsock (a device designed to indicate wind direction and relative wind speed). And if you sock a home run in baseball, well, that's a great thing.
Any more uses for the word sock?
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