Talk:omen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Latest comment: 1 year ago by Smjg in topic Puzzling statement
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Puzzling statement[edit]

I'm removing this:

"The terms for a positive omen aren't used much negatively, and it's considered oxymoronic by some to use it positively."

"The terms for a positive omen aren't used much negatively" – this doesn't seem to be remarkable at all. Terms that are frequently used ironically seem to me the exception rather than the rule. To say this is like saying that the word "little" isn't used much to describe big things – why would it be?

"and it's considered oxymoronic by some to use it positively" – what is "it" here? Furthermore, oxymoronicity doesn't depend on what a word or phrase is being used to mean, only on its constituent parts. Thus it calls into question who the "some" are – by the sounds of it, people who don't know the difference between oxymoron and irony. In any case, that the "it" has no clear antecedent means the statement does't really make sense. — Smjg (talk) 10:26, 9 March 2023 (UTC)Reply