W hen two words with opposite meanings are purposely used together to emphasize something, it is an oxymoron. For example, the expression “deafening silence” is an oxymoron. The word “deafening” means noise that is so loud it is impossible to hear anything else. Silence means no noise at all. The expression “deafening silence” is often used when there is total silence in reaction to something. For example, if you give a speech to an audience of 1,000 people but no one claps at the end of the speech, you can say there was deafening silence. The expression “open secret” is also an oxymoron because secrets are supposed to be known to just a few people, not open to everybody. When I say it is an “open secret” that Leong Kah-kit loathes Leung Chun-ying, it means everyone knows he dislikes him.
I don’t know what Leong Kah-kit meant when he called the chief executive an oxymoron because Leung Chun-ying is a person, not two opposite words that are used together to emphasize something. I think Leong Kah-kit mixed up the words oxymoron and moron. A moron is a very stupid person. I think what Leong Kah-kit wanted to say was that Leung Chun-ying is a very stupid person. He should, therefore, have said moron instead of oxymoron. If he loathes the chief executive so much, he should have called him an idiot because, in psychology, an idiot has a lower IQ than a moron.
公民黨領袖梁家傑永不避開（shies away from）要羞辱特首梁振英，To shy away from something指避免做某事。譬如，警方現已避免（shy away from）使用催淚彈，因為他們在佔中開始時使用後，激怒了公眾。梁家傑厭惡梁振英，早已是公開的秘密（open secret）。因此，他從不迴避（shies away from）要批評特首。他上星期在一個英語電台訪問中，把特首稱為 oxymoron。他說，若中央政府繼續支持這個 oxymoron 梁振英，香港將難以管治。
當我們為了強調某事，刻意將兩個意思完全相反的字放在一起，那就是 oxymoron。例如，習語 deafening silence就是一個矛盾修辭法（oxymoron）。 Deafening解作震耳欲聾，silence就是寂靜無聲。習語 deafening silence通常見於由某事帶來的絕對靜默。譬如，你向一千名觀眾演講，演說完畢卻無一人鼓掌，你就可以說這種鴉雀無聲的情況是deafening silence 。習語 open secret也是一個矛盾修飾法（oxymoron），因為秘密理應只有寥寥數人知悉，而非人人都知道。當我說梁家傑厭惡（loathes）梁振英是公開的秘密（open secret），即是說人人都知道他不喜歡他。
我不知道梁家傑叫特首為oxymoron 的意思是甚麼，因為梁振英是一個人，不是為了強調某個意思而被放在一起的反義詞。我認為梁家傑將 oxymoron和 moron混淆了。 Moron就是大笨蛋，我認為梁家傑是想說梁振英是個蠢材。因此，他應該說 moron而非 oxymoron。若他非常憎惡特首，他應該叫他做 idiot，因為在心理學裏，idiot比 moron的智商更低。
mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=309270§ion_name=wtt&kw=126