Juxta

I wonder if comedy is really anything other than a variant on the art form of juxtaposition.

Juxta is latin. It means: closely connected, side by side, yoked. Which shows you how words shift around in meaning when they change languages. Side by side position is close to what we mean in English, but juxtaposition does not mean closely connected, in fact that seems like an antonym.

Recently some of my students found this picture on the internet. For them it was hilarious. Actually, it is a pretty funny photo. My hairstyle is absurd, and my jeans are far too tight at the bottom.

What was funny about this photo was that they got to look at it on the computer screen and then turn around and look at this:

Without having lived the twenty years inbetween the contrast between these two versions of the same person is striking. For them, the students, it will be another ten to fifteen years before they begin to notice the glaring difference between what they thought they would be and who they are.

For once, I am not trying to be depressing. It is usually a good thing that by the time you are in your mid-thirties your desires and dreams have diverged wildly from those you had when you were a teenager. I'm still in a band, but most days I feel happy that I play music for my own enjoyment, and I don't have to think I am a failure if I am not trying to get a gig at a bar and have people think I am cool.

Still, I can see why my students were laughing.