Oxymoronica

Chapter One

Oxymoronic Wit & Humor

Malcolm Muggeridge, while serving as the editor of the humor magazine Punch, was accused of publishing a magazine that violated standards of good taste. He defended himself and the magazine by replying:

Good taste and humor are a contradiction in terms, like a chaste whore.

While much humor -- especially sexual and scatological humor -- is clearly of questionable taste, it's an overstatement to regard all humor as opposed to good taste. Oxymoronic humor, which is more cerebral than visceral, can be deliciously tasteful. Stand-up comics have always realized this:

Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering -- and it's all over much too soon.
--Woody allen

We sleep in separate rooms, we have dinner apart, we take separate vacations. We're doing everything we can to keep our marriage together.
--Rodney Dangerfield

Last month I blew $5,000 on a reincarnation seminar. I figured, hey, you only live once.
Randy Shakes

As you can see from these examples, oxymoronic humor is sophisticated humor. It's directed at the most important organ in the human body -- the brain. The self-cont ... read full excerpt from: Oxymoronica ebook