Back to Oxymoronic Titles

Oxymoronic Titles (Part 1)

A well-known example of an Oxymoronica title in the intellectual domain is the title of a classic 1950 book by the eminent sociologist David Riesman:

The film world abounds with oxymoronic titles, including such films as:

When writers or creative artists craft an oxymoronic title, their purpose is twofold: (1) to encompass the essence of a complete work in a single title; and (2) to give their work a title that is attention-getting or even compelling. All of the examples we've just seen achieve both goals.

A fabulous oxymoronic title from the theatrical world appears in the title of a 1967 play by Jules Feiffer:

Little Murders

Little Murders is black comedy about the effect of random and senseless violence on a New York City family. The play was made into a 1971 film starring Elliott Gould. The play was critically acclaimed (an Obie and a London Theatre Critics Award). Reviewing the play in the New York Times, Clive Barnes even managed to insert a lovely oxymoronic phrase in his review:

"(Feiffer) muses on urban man, the cesspool of urban man's mind, the beauty of his neurosis (italics mine), and the inevitability of his wilting disappointment."

I've taken the concept of little murders and adapted it to the world I work in as a psychologist and management consultant. In my leadership seminars, I say that a little murder is an assault on a person's sense of self or feeling of well-being. Many of these offenses are committed—usually unintentionally—by business owners, CEOs, and other top executives, who often walk by employees without saying hello or even acknowledging their existence. These slights—or little murders, as I like to call them—can cause employees a lot of pain. A saying from the Talmud perfectly captures this phenomenon: "A small sin committed by a great person becomes a great sin." For more on my leadership seminars, see the seminars page.

The use of oxymoronic titles is hardly a recent phenomenon. Indeed, it goes back many centuries. In 1603, a London theatrical group first performed a play by a promising young playwright named Thomas Heywood. The title of Heywood's play was clearly designed to arouse the curiosity of theater-goers of the day:

The titles of articles in magazines and newspapers are also occasionally graced with inspired oxymoronic titles. On January 9, 1994, The Boston Globe ran a fascinating article written by the African-American lawyer and law professor Lani Guinier. As I opened the paper, the title got my attention:

The article, as I recall, described many of the difficulties Guinier had encountered as a young black woman trying to break into an established power structure controlled mainly by older white men. The title was inspired by Guinier's experiences as a law student at Yale in the mid-1970s. In one course, a professor would enter the classroom each morning and, even though there were a number of women in the room, would always say, "Good morning, gentlemen." Guinier, you may recall, was nominated by President Clinton for a federal judgeship. Her liberal leanings aroused the opposition of many conservative lawmakers, ultimately leading Clinton to withdraw her nomination.

Some wonderful oxymoronic titles come about by accident. In my Oxymoronica book, I devote an entire chapter to a phenomenon I've been calling "Inadvertent Oxymoronica." These are oxymoronic phrases that are not created deliberately, but by accident—sometimes as result of ignorance and sometimes as a result of a slip of the tongue. You are undoubtedly familiar with many examples already, coming from the likes of people like Samuel Goldwyn and Yogi Berra. But here's one I bet you've never seen before. It's the title of an Asian textbook for students of English:

Below, I will present several dozen more oxymoronic titles for your reading pleasure. Occasionally, I'll offer some brief commentary to explain the title or help you deepen your appreciation of it. If you have a favorite that is not included or if you come across a new one, please send it along. By passing along great oxymoronic titles to me, I'll be able to share them with language lovers all around the globe.

A Gentle Madness is the oxymoronic term Basbanes gives to the obsessive passion to collect books. A finalist for the 1995 National Book Critics award, this book is a richly anecdotal celebration of the magic of books and the people who have fallen under their spell.

I had just entered my teenage years when the song Earth Angel exploded on the pop music scene. Smitten with the beauty of my first love—a lovely creature by the name of Patricia Beauchamp—I can still recall how perfectly the song described my feelings for her ("Earth Angel, Earth Angel, will you be mine?"). Written by Jesse Belvin, a member of the group The Penguins, the song is routinely described by music aficionados as one of the greatest songs of the fifties. The Penguins' version of the song climbed to Number 1 on the R&B charts and Number 8 on the pop charts. A Canadian group called The Crew Cuts came out with their rendition of the song at around the same time, and their version went to Number 3 on the pop charts.

Alone Together Elena Bonner, title of 1986 book

Bonner, the widow of Russian physicist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Andrei Sakharov, is herself a longtime human rights activist and the Chair of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation in Moscow. The title of the book refers to the years that she spent in exile with her husband.

The full title of Carter's book was Turning Point: A Candidate, A State, and A Nation Come of Age. This particular chapter described voting irregularities in Georgia early in Carter's political career—a form of fraud against the public that fueled the former president's determination to succeed in the political arena.

Ellison's story, which was made into a 1991 "Twilight Zone" episode, is a darkly comic tale about a petty con man who sells his soul to the devil and then enlists the help of a slick mobster to get it back. It was also adapted into comic book form in the 1990s. The story re-appeared in Ellison's 1997 book Slippage, a volume of his previously published stories.

 Continue to Part 2