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 |
