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Q is for “Quick Fix” - Oxymorons from A to Z



Q is for “Quick Fix” - Oxymorons from A to Z

What’s a quick fix? It’s a temporary solution that may or may not work. It’s all about on-the-spot improvising -- like putting a Band-Aid on a bloody gash, wrapping duct tape around a broken side-view mirror, or sticking a tiny safety pin in a screw-less eyeglass hinge. The quick fix may set things up for a moment, but it likely won’t last.



Here’s a recent example of a quick fix.

We keep an old canister vacuum in our garage, just to clean out our cars. We really should discard this old dog, but we haven’t. Because a certain somebody likes to drag the vacuum around by the hose (instead of the handle), it has sprung a few leaks.

Color me handy. I patched up the gaps, and the vacuum worked like a dream. Until it didn’t.

That’s when it sprayed all manner of nastiness all over me and my car. Petrified fast-food fries, tumbleweeds of dog fur, and shriveled bug bodies were everywhere.

Yep, that quick fix had me in quite a fix.

The quick fix may set things up for a moment, but it likely won’t last.

Techies talk about quick fixes for saving crashing computer drives and site glitch work-arounds. When we employ these strategies, we may find ourselves calling in experts soon.

Is a quick fix really any fix at all, of we will only have to fix it again? Maybe that’s what makes this oxymoronic.

What’s an oxymoron?

Basically, an oxymoron is a phrase that seems contradictory or incongruous. Taken literally, the words do not make sense. Often, oxymorons find their way into popular usage, becoming cultural catchwords or frequently used idioms.

Many of these curious wordings strike us as delightfully amiss. Besides, what sort of whimsical word is “oxymoron”?

Delightfully Amiss: Berzerkians Gone Amok … and Finding the Funk in Dysfunction is participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. That means you can find a new post every day (except Sundays, because those are the event rules) throughout the month of April. Be sure to bookmark, follow, or subscribe! And please leave a comment, especially if you’re playing along with the A to Z Challenge.
 
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1 comment:

  1. Well, hello again, Ms. Nickerson. Just how many blogs are you an author of? Just joking. I, too, am a quick-fixer, usually because I enjoy seeing if I can do it. However, sometimes it takes me longer to find a fixing thing, than it would to just get a replacement for the item I'm fixing. I am just now reminded of the word, "Fixer". My mom worked at three knitting machines in the Knitting Mill and kept them running simultaneously, and if one of them broke down, she would have to call for a "fixer" to come and repair it. (Just a little anecdote here!) I enjoyed your post. Best regards to you. Ruby

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