Juxtaposition

I got a case of writer's block, if you want to call it that, about a month and half ago.  Similar to the clogged toilet of October 2011, I decided to ask Craigslist.  There follows three separate threads of discussion, with postings from Craigslist users who might prefer not having their posting shared on my blog.  Sorry about that, I removed the user handle / ids except my own, (mlmck).  I eventually remembered the word, while showering.

Aqua Vitae. 

However, I am still not convinced using it as a way to describe an ironic parallel between two disparaging parties or ideas is a suitable use. 

Word Association Discussion Forum



min paradigm shift § < mlmck > 12/05/2011 13:50 
      : . . Morals §
      : . . : . . paradox § 
      : . . : . . dichotomy § 
      : . . : . . dualism § 
      : . . : . . open marriage §
      : . . : . . morale §
      : . . : . . Morales, §
      : . . : . . ethics §
      : . . : . . : . . juxtaposition §
      : . . : . . : . . : . . adjacent §
      : . . : . . : . . : . . : . . antacedent §
      : . . : . . : . . : . . : . . : . . antecedent § 
      : . . : . . : . . : . . : . . : . . : . . precedent §



Education Discussion Forum



another word for < mlmck > 12/05 13:51:13
what fifty cent word with three syllables means paradigm shift, paradox, dichotomy or dualism?

-here are some
But these are only 10 cent phrases, so you might have to use five of them to convey the same point.
conundrum

dilemma

reframing

bifurcation

gordian knot

-Are you writing a really boring haiku? §

-no
I'm trying to remember a word somebody used that impressed me. And then trying to decide if I was impressed by their accuracy or their ignorance. I am juxtaposing my own ignorance with theirs, in order to compare and contrast my own shifting paradigm.

-
hard to say
those words don't mean the same thing


Literary and Writing Discussion Forum

another word for paradigm shift < mlmck > 12/05 13:53:09
Hey- I am wondering if any of you literary types know of another word for paradigm shift, besides paradox, logical fallacy, dichotomy or dualism.

-My understanding would equate it more
to transition or metamorphosis than the nouns you used.

-Maybe
model shift, change of form, new recipe for; removal of pillars from the old cathedral; a phnomnenal algorithm (yikes!); deconstructing the unworkable model; putting more bones into the body of the plan, so it can run twice as fast; etc. The main idea would be change. Check your Roget's Thesaurus under change and related ideas of model, form, growth, etc.

-Mlmck asked for another word, not expression

-but I admit your list is impressively good

-agree with swamp, mlmck your sysnonyms are not

-Paradigm can be Shifty, but
"paradigm shift" merely means change in the status quo. It's a catchy phrase and the Ad-Man are working it to the bone during the Silly Season--or political campaign year and a half.

Republicans abhor change in a forward direction; they want to return to that mythical yesteryear of Lone Rangers and two-bit actors like Reagan. The last thing they would want, if they comprehended its meaning is a "paradigm shift."

-juxtaposition
I was looking for Juxtaposition, in the Dan Akroyd / Eddie Murphy sense of the word. Trading Places. I guess there's a literary use as well as an abstract space definition.

The Mortimer brothers create a juxtaposition by hiring street beggar Eddie Murphy, (Rudolph Valentine) and giving him Wall Street Executive Dan Akroyd's, (Louis Winthorpe III), job. Their juxtaposition is mitigated by a simple wager, can rich well educated Winthorpe survive on the street, and can Valentine be their new syncophantic yes-man? The Mortimer brothers bet a dollar.

I assume a paradigm shift would be a little more all encompassing, and likely void of singular entities...like the gradual change in thought about the theory of relativity, neutrinos and dark matter.

-juxtaposition 
The word I was trying to remember, and thought was a synonym for paradigm shift, was juxtaposition. thank you for your input.

For some reason, this word rings a bell in my memory, maybe it was used out of context or something? But it,(in my memory) seems to have related to a contrasting of ideas, or a competing set of ideas that change in conjunction with one another, more than the actual definition of juxtapose.

As in, Mitt Romney's change of political stance has juxtaposed the political viewpoints of those loyal to him, and not his politics - which doesn't make sense at all, considering the actual definition of juxtapose.

- Mybe the word
for "uxtaposed"should have been "adopted".

"As in, Mitt Romney's change of political stance has (juxtaposed) adoptend the political viewpoints of those loyal to him, and not his [own sense of] politics"

- This is likely the definition I was looking for
Let's take a situation from any generic film. A very poor woman gives birth to twins and dies immediately after. The sons get separated at birth. While one son finds himself adopted into a wealthy factory owner's house, the other is a street child who turns into a petty thief. The film story traces their journey through life. At a crucial moment, the son who is a petty thief corners the other son in a dark alley and mugs him.

Thus a juxtaposition is drawn here which shows the contrast that both sons, born of the same mother and identical to look at, are yet so much different in their motives, lifestyles and characters. Thus the literary device of juxtaposition is used to draw a contrast between the two, but it is still connected somewhere and it is possible to place them side by side to draw a contrast.

From Buzzle.com

-polar shift