Tell me a paradox

How about a sex therapist who is asexual? lol

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

I don't think I would call your second example a paradox (maybe).

An animal lover who's afraid of dogs.

A ghost who's afraid of the dark.

A drug dealer who is strict with his own kids about not using drugs (that might not be a paradox either).

A cop who's a kleptomaniac.

alleycat said:

I don't think I would call your second example a paradox (maybe).

An animal lover who's afraid of dogs.

A ghost who's afraid of the dark.

A drug dealer who is strict with his own kids about not using drugs (that might not be a paradox either).

A cop who's a kleptomaniac.

Click to expand...

Ooooh, a ghost who's afraid of the dark...I like that one!

A zombie who's a vegetarian!

;-)

Someone who keeps kosher inheriting a ranch that raises unclean animals.

An illiterate teacher.

A suicidal grief counselor.

A sailor who's allergic to water/fish

A deaf composer / paralyzed dancer (both possible)

A colorblind artist

A writer who can't read

A cowardly hero

A theoretical physicist who can't do basic math

human life on a planet without oxygen

In my little book I have a demon that is afraid or clueless about doing bad things to people. It seems to go against his 'nature'. ????

alleycat said:

A ghost who's afraid of the dark.

Click to expand...

I have one of those in a WIP. I never thought about it being a paradox. It didn't occur to me a ghost should have no reason to fear the dark. I will have to think about that further.

What's a ghost to be afraid of . . . someone jumping out in the dark and scaring him to death?

;-)

Aren't those oxymorons?

maxmordon said:

Aren't those oxymorons?

Click to expand...

I think of a paradox, when applied to a character, as someone who has an ingrained conflict of his nature (which is why I didn't really think a marriage counselor getting a divorce was a paradox).

We're probably being a little flexible with the examples here since this is just a casual question.

maxmordon said:

Aren't those oxymorons?

Click to expand...

I do think of paradoxes as being situational. But let's remove all doubt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox

That would leave us with the following examples:

1. "Hiding in plain sight"
2. "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
3. Any catch-22, e.g. in order to get a job you have to have experience, but in order to gain experience you must first get a job

Military Intelligence...

A substance abuse counselor who discusses her clients' case planning over cocktails?

Cyia said:

An illiterate teacher.
A colorblind artist

Click to expand...

My great uncle's a colorblind (red-green) painter.
I heard of a school principal who was essentially illiterate. And I have reason to believe the story.


Anyways: In grade 6, we had this program called VIP--values, influences, peers. How to say no to drugs, that kind of thing. Given by a local police officer.

Well, later that year, the officer was busted for being involved in the drug trade

Those aren't paradoxes. They're hypocrites.

alleycat said:

What's a ghost to be afraid of . . . someone jumping out in the dark and scaring him to death?

;-)

Click to expand...

Something like that.

I think the late, great Steve Jobs was a paradox. A brilliant, inventive man who worked in business, design and technology, yet didn't trust modern medicine quite enough to ...

Well, I guess everyone knows the rest.

A paradox is something which contradicts itself by virtue of its own existence. None of these do.

/pedant

alleycat said:

A zombie who's a vegetarian!

;-)

Click to expand...

I know a vegetarian who is an avid hunter. Does that count?

An extrovert mathematician. [One that looks at your shoes when he is talking to you as opposed to his own.]

Ooh, ooh, an extrovert writer. One that, never mind

Just kidding! Plenty of extrovert writers around.

scarletpeaches said:

A paradox is something which contradicts itself by virtue of its own existence. None of these do.

/pedant

Click to expand...

Ah, semantics shmantics

I have spun my mind on what I call the Cheater's Paradox, and it was based on a statement that was thrown in my direction once some time ago:

"I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a cheater*."

My mind spun it into paradoxical territory with a simple "what if." What if the "lot of things" included being a liar? Would it not make the original statement potentially both true and untrue at the same time?

The person could have just said, "I am not a cheater." Then, the statement would have been either true or not true. But with the added first phrase, it stepped into (potentially) incredible cleverness.





*Cheater could refer to many things, but in the original context, it had to do with relationship fidelity.