Juxtapose This

I've always enjoyed the word "juxtapose" (and its neighbor "juxtaposition"). It's pleasing to the ear. It's not one of those words that rolls off the tongue in a sexy way like "onomatopoeia", but each syllable puts your tongue and lips in the exact position necessary for the next syllable. "Jux" leads right into "tuh" leads right into "puh" leads right into "zih" leads right into "shun". For the longest time, I knew its definition, but never actually understood what it meant. You know words like this. Words that you can glaze past as you read the sentence that contains it, but when asked to conjure up a sentence of your own, you fail miserably. Words like "amalgam", "imbue", "cacophony", and "juxtaposition."

Once I finally and thoroughly understood the word, I began enjoying juxtapositions everywhere. There's something about two opposites combining to achieve such a positive flavor. Here are my flavorites:

1. A cold beer juxtaposed with a hot, steamy shower.

2. A fridge-chilled orange juxtaposed with a hot, steamy shower. (I like hot showers and take them often.)

3. Personally, the juxtaposition I most enjoy is driving my car on a cool night with my windows down and my heater blasting. The outside air by itself is too cold. The heater is too hot. But together, it forms such a pleasing sensation. And if you add some Radiohead, well!

4. A piece of well-placed, quiet humor said into the ear of someone who's down can have just the right effect. I don't know if that's a true juxtaposition, the humor and the sadness, but nevertheless it fits my description.

5.


The irony created by the juxtaposition of the dirtiest part of my shower next to the words "clean shower". I hadn't picked up that spray bottle in months until just recently and laughed aloud at the irony.

Juxtapose this blog about juxtapositions to other blogs about juxtapositions and you will undoubtedly realize that I probably don't understand the meaning of the word. Regardless, I still enjoy those 5 things and no one else has ever blogged about this anyway so there's nothing to juxtapose!