This list is, of course, open to debate. A hundred, if not a thousand, couplings could be offered in their place. I will say that the last two pairings are quintessential to the premise behind these categories. Originally, they were first on the list.
| MODERN | POSTMODERN | |
| steel | plastic | |
| Picasso | Warhol | |
| Pullman & Coach | First Class & Economy | |
| romance | narcissism | |
| pot roast | vegan | |
| FDR | GWB | |
| Hitler | Hussein | |
| Churchill | Blair | |
| Zionism | Israel | |
| USSR | People's Republic of China | |
| consumption | cancer | |
| Gone With the Wind | The DaVinci Code | |
| drought | flood | |
| blizzard | global warming | |
| steak | salad | |
| beer | lite beer | |
| dessert | No-Cal | |
| tycoons | CEOs | |
| typewriters | PCs | |
| Off-Broadway | Off-Off-Broadway | |
| bebop | rap | |
| shoes | sneakers | |
| library | Internet | |
| epistles | blogs | |
| Gallo | Pinot Noir | |
| bourbon | single malt | |
| the Depression | the 1990s | |
| corner stores | malls | |
| Sinatra | Eminem | |
| farming | agribusiness | |
| slums | projects | |
| highways | superhighways | |
| Sears, Roebuck | Wal-Mart | |
| antiseptics | antibiotics | |
| heart attacks | bypasses | |
| concentration | fragmentation | |
| war | terrorism |
Subscribe Now!
The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.
There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

Buzzflash
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Newsvine
Reddit