Originally posted by Alex Bragi
Do you have a favourite juxtaposition?

Again, for those as ignorant as me, juxtapositions (thanks, Curtis) are opposite phrases place side by side to give impact. All Americans would be familiar with this one – “ Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Sorry, I can't think of any Australian ones.
Actually, I believe that this ancient rhetorical device is technically called 'parallelism' not 'juxtaposition", although the latter word describes the concept nicely enough.

Theodore Sorensen, JFK's speechwriter, used this device frequently:

"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate."

and

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind."

are just two of the more memorable Sorensen/Kennedy parallelisms.



Steven Stills gave us a more hedonistic example

"If you can't be with the one you love, love the one with you're
with."



And here's one that occurred to me while I was writing this --


"'Tis better to love a loser, than to lose a lover."

(some of you may want to turn that one around! :-) )

Boccaccio