the.com/jumbo shrimp
the oxymoron that proves english lets you be big and small in the same breath.
means a marketing-friendly size label for large shrimp, and the textbook example of a self-contradicting phrase.
from shrimp meant tiny since the 1300s, so pairing it with jumbo (coined after the famous 1880s circus elephant) created an instant, quotable contradiction that stuck as the go-to oxymoron example.
jumbo originnamed after p.t. barnum's elephant, 1882
linguistic termclassic oxymoron taught in schools
shrimp sizingjumbo just means fewer per pound
other examplessame species as deafening silence, act naturally