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OED Word of the Day
DWEM, n.
NEW EDITION: draft entry Mar. 2002
colloq. and derogatory (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
A notable male figure in Western cultural history; esp. a writer, philosopher, etc., whose works or achievements are the subject of customary or compulsory study in Western schools and universities (a situation challenged by some as discriminatory and unrepresentative). The implication is that the importance of such figures has been exaggerated, at the expense of others, on account of their belonging to a historically dominant gender and ethnic group.
1990 Forbes 1 Oct. 212/3 That [sc. ‘PC’] and ‘DWEM’ (dead white European male) are, I gather, two of the most common
acronyms on campus. 1992 New Republic 6 Apr. 38/3, I have usually taken comfort in the obvious response that DWEMs have given us habeas corpus and digitalis, cantatas and penicillin. 1994 Time 10 Oct. 62/1 D.W.E.M.s are still being elbowed off reading lists by writers deemed worthy of study solely because of their gender (translation: female), race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. 1999 Independent 15 Mar. I. 18/1 Most of the authors deemed worthy of study..are dead, white European males, or Dwems, as they've been sarcastically christened by academics who would like to see other voices..represented.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Peanut butter
X-Rays
Frankenstein
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Pooh-Bah
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Carpal Tunnel
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I was surprised how many hits I got when I searched for
DWEM. But none of the sneers gave any clue as to identity
of any other group with such a monumental collective contribution.
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Carpal Tunnel
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any other group with such a monumental collective contribution
A) It would tend not to be documented as well, either ignored or having WEMs take the credit where it was not due
and
2) non-WEMS would have significantly more obstacles to overcome to get the education required to make the contributions.
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old hand
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old hand
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I suspect Faldage is referring to women's achievements. But wasn't it Becquerel, not Marie Curie, who gave us x-rays?
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Carpal Tunnel
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And who was Roentgen?
And wasn't it George Washington Carver who gave us peanuts?
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old hand
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old hand
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Peanuts or peanut butter? Ay there's the edible rub.
cheer
the sunshine "side up" warrior
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Who, as I remember, wasn't a WEM.oops!!  I was only thinking "women." shanks made me do it.
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old hand
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Go on, then. Blame me. I work in an office full of women, and I have to remind them from time to time that the reason I stay single is to get away from the nagging. Not that they listen to me, of course.
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Carpal Tunnel
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shanks made me do it
Uh-huh
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Carpal Tunnel
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And (to no one in particular): isn't WE redundant?
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old hand
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I think the 'white' is relevant, but the 'European', may be redundant. After all, USsians of European origin are almost certainly included in the dispraise of the students. But DWM, on the other hand, just makes me imagine some Welsh preacher foretelling the final battle at Meggido.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yeah. Or "Divorced White Male" in the personal ads.
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Carpal Tunnel
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What?! Dead White Males can't place personals? Reverse discrimination!!!
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veteran
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I know that peanut butter was invented by a non-dwem and that Frankenstein was written by a non-dwem, but I thought that x-rays were discovered by a dwem. I was not aware that either of Roentgen or Pului were non-dwems.
The use of this sort of terminology is clearly intended to take The Man (by which, of course, I mean the collection of White Y-chromosome-infected Males) down a peg or two. The snottiness is often accompanied by the exaggeration of the case for some other group, as is the case with afrocentrism.
(There's a great sentence I read in a feminist magazine once, simultaneously chilling and humorous. It's so vague in my mind, but it was something about "... logic [being] a tool for male dominion ..." What's worse is I almost agree with a fraction of the statement.)
Beethoven was black. Relativity was actually discovered by Einstein's wife. Archimedes stole all his ideas from the earlier Egyptians. Sometimes these claims are made by people with multiple degrees and we are informed, "Well, see, how could you possibly argue with such and such a person! Surely HE knows more than anyone else about the subject!" (Modern day young earth creationists (YECs), BTW, use this same technique. "Scientists" with numerous degrees, but who have made trivial or no contributions to the sciences are held up as counter examples to the Nobel laureates and members of the Academy of Science.)
How DARE you think that Archimedes is more important than his Egyptian masters! How DARE you think that William Shakespeare is more important than other literary figures! Who says that Edison deserves more coverage than Carver?
It's not that I completely disagree with the idea. In the middle of all the squawking, I there's almost certinaly a legitimate argument. What bothers me immensely is we compensate for incomplete and shallow treatments with even shallower treatments. It's more important to convey the "right" impression than it is to convey a realistic impression. Not everyone who wants this diversification is so extreme, but my observation is that of the people I have personally known who used the term Dead White (European) Male in a serious sense, they have been almost universally among the most stupid people I've ever met.
k
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Nobody mention Booker T. Washington.
But nothing has been said to change the fact that the
DWEMs contribution has been so great many years will
go by before it is equalled.
Antoine Henri Becquerel, 1852–1908, was professor at the Ecole polytechnique, Paris, from 1895. He studied atmospheric polarization and the influence of the earth's magnetism on the atmosphere. In 1896 he discovered radioactivity in uranium; the Curies made further investigations of the phenomenon and shared with Becquerel the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics (see Curie, family).
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Well, it's both for racist and euphonic reasons. Many whites in Europe believe other Europeans aren't white. Nordics versus mediterranean types, etc. I still remember the shock of being called a WASP by a Palestinian friend of mine in college. I told him that I guess I was white (though I think of myself as being more pink than white), but I was neither Anglo-Saxon nor protestant. He laughed and said, you know what I mean. I asked him if all Israelis thought this way. We started speaking again after a week or so. Then decades later I listened in astonishment as a European friend (who was a Polish Jew who'd grown up in Austria after the war) explained to me how Turks were not European and Turkey shouldn't be let in the EU. Sigh.
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Reverse discrimination!!!
What? From living white males? Dead black females? You do the combinatorics.
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
Then decades later I listened in astonishment as a European friend (who was a Polish Jew who'd grown up in Austria after the war) explained to me how Turks were not European and Turkey shouldn't be let in the EU. Sigh.
The Merry Minuet, by the Kingston Trio.
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stranger
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stranger
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Oh, no? I've dated several.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've dated several
Yeahbut®, didja meet em through the personals?
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veteran
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The Merry Minuet, by the Kingston Trio.
Or Tom Lehrer's National Brotherhood Week.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Divorced White Endosexual Male
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veteran
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Do wot 'e (jerking thumb to the side) means.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Do wot 'e (jerking thumb to the side) means.
That'd be the blame-shifted version of the old computer language DWIM.
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veteran
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DWIM was an enhancement to LISP and not a language in itself. Now where did the keyboard manufacturers put the DWIM button?
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Pooh-Bah
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Coming it a bit strong, actually, Bill, to call Simon Newcomb the father of astronomy. But he did some really important work. He was one of those backroom guys who the "stars" in the field rely on.
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stranger
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Come to think of it, it might have been the death notices.
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