Juxtaposed antonyms

Rebuffing inquiries...

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Leo: Hey, George, where you been these days?

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Geo: Oh. Been coming and going, you know. Back and forth between here and there.

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Leo: On the project, I take it?

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Geo: Yeah, the project. Seeing to this and that and attending to odds and ends.

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Leo: How’s Bro feel it’s going?

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Geo: He blows hot and cold, ebbs and flows.

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Leo: Up and down, huh? So will it be finished by the end of June?

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Geo: Hmm. Fifty-fifty, I’d say.

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Leo: Touch and go?

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Geo: I’d say so. Yes. So-so.

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Voice-over

Norman Rockwell
Coming and Going, 1947

Juxtaposed antonyms. Effective enough used alone. But concatenated into a replicated pattern, that’s obscure. Hard to get what’s being got at. It’s hemming and hawing. It’s antisocial.

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