"I have a contrarian position," he said.

The magazine is known (and sometimes criticized) for adopting contrarian positions.

But another is that he knows the publicity-grabbing value of a strategic conversion to a contrarian position.

Mr. Kerr, whose contrarian position has already drawn fire, states up front that he isn't a neutral observer.

Taking a conservative or contrarian position as a bubble builds results in performance unfavorable to peers.

"Paula's always pushed buttons," her mother said, but she has always backed up her contrarian positions with sound reasoning.

I can even take contrarian positions, such as "Hall and Oates: Not So Bad."

That is still a contrarian position.

Not least because Professor Du Havel takes a certain natural delight in assuming a contrarian position, just to see where the conversation will go.

But, establishing her contrarian position, Ms. Jardine asks, "Why, then, do these paintings fail to live up to our expectations?"