The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #60464   Message #968150
Posted By: GUEST,Q
18-Jun-03 - 01:14 AM
Thread Name: BS: Oxymoron place names
Subject: RE: BS: Oxymoron place names
Mobile, the city, is not an oxymoron. It was named for the Maubila, or Mobile Indians by the original French settlers.

Names like Waterloo, Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Edinburgh, Athens, etc. etc. for North American towns and cities are not oxymorons, which are defined as a combination of contradictory or incongruous words.

Many of the names here do not fit the definition of oxymoron, although they may be silly, kooky or contrary to fact.