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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

change is the essence of life - Still life what an oxymoron

Whatever has tradition, will have future. Read the 4 items, and express your opinion.


item 1. -The Australia into which I was born in 1945 was 97% Anglo-Celtic, and people were relatively sure of where their values lay. 
. Today perhaps 40% of the Australian population come from any of 200 different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. 


… In 1971 I worked in London for six months, and again that was a society which was overwhelmingly Anglo-Celtic, and knew what it believed in as a group. Today,2007, one Londoner out of every three is non-white. 


Thus Australia and England are now quite a different countries from the nations and peoples celebrated in their respective school history books. 
The most non-German city is its capital, Berlin, also certain for London.




Item 2. - According to the 1991 Indian census, there were 49,736 fluent speakers of Sanskrit in India. And at the time of the independence from London, the number did not add up to 500, Nevertheless, Sanscrit is THE language of pure India.




Item 3.- Futurist Alvin Toffler (1990) described in his book Powershift,  three forms of power and shows how these have changed over time:
Yesterday VIOLENCE was power, at my time WEALTH is power, tomorrow, KNOWLEDGE will be power.  
Somehow, the link in the three cases was the spread of technology.




Item 4. - 
Find your favourite OXYMORON



Two words with contradicting meanings used together. Something that appears self-contradictory. A ridiculous comparision. Conjoining contradictory terms.

One case where many oxymorons are strung together can be found in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo declares:
     "O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
         Feather of lead, bright smoke,


            cold fire, sick health!"

Some paradoxical oxymorons become clichés:
  • Irregular pattern

  • Real utopias
  • Bitter sweet
  • Deafening silence
  • Forward retreat
  • Noisy silence
  • Quiet riot
  • Serious joke
  • Sweet sorrow

Unjust Law
Tax Return
Airline Food
Alone Together
Taped Live
Peace Force
Anarchy Rules
Affordable Housing
French Resistance
Microsoft Works
Rap Music


From American politics:
The news reported that he had died of death by friendly fire.
Eight years of "Compasionate Conservatism"
Amazing " Open-minded Conservative"

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