Good Grief! — Those Zany Oxymorons

Good Grief! — Those Zany Oxymorons

Good Grief! — Those Zany Oxymorons
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.85

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		awck, forte, fun-sounding, hullabaloo, meaningless, oxymoron, oxymorons, Oxys, preposterous, shenanigan, tragical, wondrous, tedious, genuine, jumbo, finding
	content words:		Charlie Brown, When Mom, New York, Big Man, William Shakespeare

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Good Grief! — Those Zany Oxymorons
By Toni Lee Robinson

¹     Words can be boring. Just read the small print on a computer game user agreement. You'll be yawning by the second line. Words can also be fun. After all, it's the punch line that makes you laugh at a joke.

²     Some words just sound fun. "Shenanigan" is a fun word to say. "Gizmo" and "hullabaloo" are fun-sounding words. Some words are funny just because they are used with certain other words. Oxymorons (awck see MORE onz) are good examples of words that are funny because they are used together.

³     Even the word "oxymoron" sounds zany. What is an oxymoron, anyway? A cow that's not so bright? In fact, the word was created from two Greek words. Oxys means sharp, and moros means dull. Together, the two words mean "a sharp dullness" or a "wise foolishness."

⁴     The silly, befuddled meaning of the words sums up exactly what an oxymoron is. It is a phrase made up of words that have opposite meanings. "Good grief!" you might think. "Doesn't that make the phrase meaningless? Usually, it makes the phrase funny. (By the way, every time you or Charlie Brown say "Good grief!" you are using an oxymoron!)

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