Word of the Day

Friday November 27, 2009

juxtaposition [juhk-stuh-puh-ZISH-uhn]

noun

A placing or being placed in nearness or side by side; as, a juxtaposition of words.

Judging from the audience at the Ivy Substation on opening night, one suspects there's not a conservative lurking within a country mile. Jewell Rae may be preaching to the choir, but the juxtaposition of her down-home persona and liberal views results in some scathing satire.

F. Kathleen Foley, "THEATER REVIEW; Well, this just takes the cake", Los Angeles Times, Nov 6, 2009
The work of Jared Hess, director of "Napoleon Dynamite" and the new "Gentlemen Broncos", is a prime example of a film subgenre all its own: quirk, defined by Michael Hirschorn in the Atlantic as "mannered ingenuousness, an embrace of small moments, narrative randomness, situationally amusing but not hilarious character juxtapositions .. and unexplainable but nonetheless charming character traits" Who are some other exemplars of the genre?

Washington Times, "Top 5: Quirky indie directors", Washington Times, Nov 6, 2009
The fallen trees, the crushed thicket, the splintered limbs, the rudely torn-up soil, were made hideous by their grotesque juxtaposition with the wrecked fragments of civilization, in empty cans, broken bottles, battered hats, soleless boots, frayed stockings, cast-off rags, and the crowning absurdity of the twisted-wire skeleton of a hooped skirt hanging from a branch.

Bret Harte (1836 - 1902) An American author and poet. A California Romance

Origin of the Word

Juxtaposition, approximately 1660, derives from Latin juxta "beside, near" + positio, "position," the past participle of ponere, "to place."