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Vulgarity
Vulgarity is the quality of being common, coarse, or unrefined. This judgement may refer to language, visual art, social class, or social climbers. John Bayley claims the term can never be self-referential, because to be aware of vulgarity is to display a degree of sophistication which thereby elevates the subject above the vulgar. Evolution of the term From the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, "vulgar" simply described the common language or vernacular of a country. From the mid-seventeenth century onward, it began to take on a pejorative aspect: "having a common and offensively mean character, coarsely commonplace; lacking in refinement or good taste; uncultured; ill bred". In the Victorian age, vulgarity broadly described many activities, such as wearing ostentatious clothing. In a George Eliot novel, one character could be vulgar for talking about money, a second because he criticizes the first for doing so, and a third for being fooled by the excessive refinement of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obscenity
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral repugnance and outrage in expressions such as "obscene profit (accounting), profits" and "the obscenity of war". As a legal term, it usually refers to descriptions and depictions of people engaged in Human sexuality, sexual and excretory activity. United States obscenity law In the United States, issues of obscenity raise issues of limitations on the freedom of speech and of freedom of the press, the press, which are otherwise protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Federal obscenity law in the U.S. is unusual in that there is no uniform national standard. Former Justice Potter Stewart of the Supreme Court of the United States, in attempting to classify what materi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Climber
A ''parvenu'' is a person who is a relative newcomer to a high-ranking socioeconomic class. The word is borrowed from the French language; it is the past participle of the verb ''parvenir'' (to reach, to arrive, to manage to do something). Origin The word ''parvenu'' typically describes a person who recently ascended the social ladder, especially a ''nouveau riche'' or "new money" individual. The famous Margaret Brown, who survived the sinking of the ''Titanic'' in 1912, was portrayed as a "new money" individual, most notably in the "climbing social classes" musical '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'', because of her impoverished Irish immigrant roots and lack of social pedigree. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines a ''parvenu'' as: "A person from a humble background who has rapidly gained wealth or an influential social position; a nouveau riche; an upstart, a social climber. Also in extended use. Generally used with the implication that the person concerned is unsuited to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toilet
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popular in Europe and North America with a toilet seat, with additional considerations for those with disabilities, or for a squatting posture more popular in Asia, known as a squat toilet. In urban areas, flush toilets are usually connected to a sewer system; in isolated areas, to a septic tank. The waste is known as '' blackwater'' and the combined effluent, including other sources, is sewage. Dry toilets are connected to a pit, removable container, composting chamber, or other storage and treatment device, including urine diversion with a urine-diverting toilet. " Toilet" or "toilets" is also widely used for rooms containing only one or more toilets and hand-basins. Lavatory is an older word for toilet. The technolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cultural Concepts
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor, Edward. (1871). ''Primitive Culture''. Vol 1. New York: J. P. Putnam's Son Culture often originates from or is attributed to a specific region or location. Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group. Accepting only a monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change. Thus in military culture, valor is coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concepts In Aesthetics
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to aesthetics: Aesthetics – branch of philosophy and axiology concerned with the nature of beauty. What type of thing is an aesthetic? Aesthetics can be described as all of the following: * Branch of philosophy – ** the philosophical study of beauty *** the sublime *** Aesthetic judgments *** Aesthetic taste ** the philosophy of art *** Definitions of art *** Value of art *** Attitudes toward art Related academic areas * Applied aesthetics * Architecture * Art * Arts criticism * Gastronomy * Aesthetics of nature * History of painting * Painting * Philosophy of film * Aesthetic medicine ** Aesthetic dentistry ** Plastic surgery * Aesthetics of music * Philosophy of music * Theory of painting * Poetry * Psychological aesthetics * Aesthetics of science * Sculpture * Theological aesthetics History of aesthetics * History of aesthetics ** History of aesthetics (pre-20th-century) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fuck
''Fuck'' () is profanity in the English language that often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to around 1475. In modern usage, the term ''fuck'' and its morphological derivation, derivatives (such as ''fucker'' and ''fucking'') are used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an Expletive infix, infix, an interjection or an adverb. There are many common phrases that employ the word as well as Compound (linguistics), compounds that incorporate it, such as ''motherfucker'' and ''wikt:fuck off, fuck off''. Offensiveness It is unclear whether the word has always been considered a pejorative or, if not, when it first came to be used to describe (often in an extremely angry, hostile, or belligerent manner) unpleasant circumstances or people in an intentionally offensive way, such as in the term ''motherfucker'', one of its more common usages in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cultural Capital
In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, social capital, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as a social relation within an economy of practices (i.e. system of exchange), and includes the accumulated cultural knowledge that confers social status and power; thus cultural capital comprises the material and symbolic goods, without distinction, that society considers rare and worth seeking. There are three types of cultural capital: (i) embodied capital, (ii) objectified capital, and (iii) institutionalised capital. Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron coined and defined the term ''cultural capital'' in the essay "Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction" (1977). Bourdieu then developed the concept in the essay "The Forms of Capital" (1985) and in the book ''The State Nobility: Élite Schools in the Field of Power'' (199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphemism Treadmill
A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to mask profanity or refer to topics some consider taboo such as mental or physical disability, sexual intercourse, bodily excretions, pain, violence, illness, or death in a polite way. Etymology ''Euphemism'' comes from the Greek word () which refers to the use of 'words of good omen'; it is a compound of (), meaning 'good, well', and (), meaning 'prophetic speech; rumour, talk'. '' Eupheme'' is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc. The term ''euphemism'' itself was used as a euphemism by the ancient Greeks; with the meaning "to keep a holy silence" (speaking well by not speaking at all). Purpose Avoidance Reasons for using euphemisms vary by co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beauchamp's Career
''Beauchamp's Career'' is an 1876 novel by George Meredith which portrays life and love in upper-class Radical circles and satirises the Conservative establishment. Meredith himself thought it his best novel, and the character Renée de Croisnel was his favourite of his creations. '' The Penguin Companion to Literature'' calls it "One of the finest political novels in English." Synopsis Nevil Beauchamp is a young naval officer with high ideals of honour and public service who, having been wounded in the Crimean War, recovers his health in Venice. He there falls in love with a brilliant and high-spirited French girl, Renée de Croisnel, with whom he hopes to elope. Renée marries an elderly French aristocrat instead, and Nevil takes up his naval career again. He falls under the influence of the republican and freethinking Dr. Shrapnel, thereby alienating his wealthy uncle Everard Romfrey, a staunchly Conservative peer. Nevil stands for Parliament as a Radical, but he is defeat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bayley (writer)
John Oliver Bayley (27 March 1925 – 12 January 2015) was a British academic, literary critic and writer. He was the Warton Professor of English at the University of Oxford from 1974 to 1992. His first marriage was to the novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch. Bayley was "acclaimed for his dissections of Goethe and Pushkin as well as of Jane Austen". The "master of all he surveys", he "is the reviewer’s reviewer", excelling where "deep knowledge and logical examination come together"; his criticism “consists of attractively original examinations of subjects", "especially those devoted to poetry and to Russian and central European literature". Sir Frank Kermode, who held the position of King Edward VII Professor of English Literature, University of Cambridge, reviewed Bayley’s ''The Power of Delight: A Lifetime in Literature'' (Bayley's literary essays from 1962 to 2002) with the title of “The King of Crit.” Biography and career Bayley was born in Lahore, British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Meredith
George Meredith (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first, his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but Meredith gradually established a reputation as a novelist. '' The Ordeal of Richard Feverel'' (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is '' The Egoist'' (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was '' Diana of the Crossways'' (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters' psychology, and also portrayed social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning". Meredith was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. Meredith was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. Life Early years, educa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels: ''Adam Bede'' (1859), ''The Mill on the Floss'' (1860), ''Silas Marner'' (1861), ''Romola'' (1862–1863), ''Felix Holt, the Radical'' (1866), ''Middlemarch'' (1871–1872) and ''Daniel Deronda'' (1876). Like Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, she emerged from provincial England; most of her works are set there. Her works are known for their literary realism, realism, psychological fiction, psychological insight, sense of place and detailed depiction of the countryside. ''Middlemarch'' was described by the novelist Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people"Woolf, Virginia. "George Eliot." ''The Common Reader''. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1925. pp. 166–176. and by Martin Amis an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
