Tuesday, 1 May 2007

Oxymorons

The greatest misnomer there is, is common sense. For example, I tend to hang out at a cafe that provides free WiFi access. As the battery on my iBook is knackered, I plug my adapter into a socket all the time. Infact I was there for an hour this morning before heading off somewhere. So it was to my surprise this afternoon that the receptionist informed me that a morning management decree (I was there shortly after they opened) meant that I could no longer use their electricity. When I asked to speak to the manager, her rational was as follows; she said that if she invited me to her house, would I expect to use her electricity? Bemused, I thought, firstly, there is no way on earth that I would accept an invitation to her house and secondly she must be paying the cafe's electricity bill, otherwise how else do you explain her preponderance for keeping tabs on every milliamp of electricity used?! However, what I don't get is how a cafe can provide free WiFi access yet deny the said WiFi users electricity access. I suggested she put up signs saying power usage is not allowed to go with the No Smoking ones!!

Civil war - ain't nothing civil about war. War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing.

Delusional sincerity - see here

Friendly fire - if only the fatalities of this misnomer could let us know what degree of friendship is required to kill someone

Fuzzy logic - I always thought logic was pretty clear cut, either this or that, but apparently it can be pretty unclear or fuzzy.

Magic realism - Colombia's renowned writer Gabrierl Garcia Marquez is an exponent of the genre. I'm told that Love in the Time of Cholera is very illustrative of this.

Organised chaos - my favourite

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