What the damn is an Oxycretin I hear you quiver.
While oxymorons are figures of speech in which contradictory terms
appear conjoined into a single phrase (Pretty ugly, halfway done, good
grief, old news and all the others in this list) Oxycretins are
two opposite words which can be housed within the same word. By
removing a single letter, the whole word switches to the opposite
meaning. The term is obviously less than technical, being mostly an
escalated derivative of the word “oxymoron” (would “escalated
derivative” also be an oxymoron then?)
There are precious few examples of these online, at the trime of
writing, Google produces something like 4 pages out of a possible (and
probably duplicated) 28 pages on the subject of “Oxycretins”, not all
of them to do with this phenomenon, but rather the term itself. It
seems a common username. The greatest number of them can be found in a
new book by Teresa Monachino called Words Fail Me, published by Phaidon.
Here are some cool examples. If you remove the bolded letter, you see the revealed opposite word.
None
Seven
Charm
Slaughter
Covert
Whole
Twit
Flute (if one considers string and wind instruments as opposites.
Resign
Friend
Tanker (ok that’s a homophone of anchor but it’s pretty good anyway…)
Why not try and think of your own? You’ll find that their discovery
is pretty much by accident every time (it’s nice, as each discovery
comes with that “Ah-Ha!” factor that makes word games so much fun.)
It’s a great way to spend the day not working.
technorati tags:spelling, oxycretin, oxycretins, language, writing, humour, humor, Teresa, Monachino, Phaidon, Words, Fail, Me, Oxymoron, odd
6 comments
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April 26, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Ilari
The term “fight or flight” from evolutionary biology would also fit criteria. And how about free/fee? In Finnish, my native tongue, the word “menestys” (success) becomes “menetys” (loss). Ah-HA.
May 13, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Jim C
To skip
the oppisit being To Kip
this is a UK slang word for sleep
July 18, 2007 at 4:20 am
hypernation
Hey both of you – these are great! I particularly like the free/fee one. And a little bit of Finnish is always good! Keep those Oxycretins alive people!
November 11, 2007 at 7:22 pm
site
hi
i agree
January 13, 2008 at 12:22 am
biabbenty
Make love, not war!
May 27, 2008 at 12:15 am
list of oxymoron words
[…] all the others in this list Oxycretins aretwo opposite words which can be housed within the same whttps://hypernation.wordpress.com/2007/03/06/oxycretins-the-reason-spelling-can-%e2%80%9cput-the-fun-…Lists of Oxymora, Serious and HumorousThe simplest definition of an oxymoron is the use of words, […]