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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 4
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 4 |
Hi Guys~
I loved the cynical [read:tsuwmy] quote from today's WAD ("stet"):
"I realize that I have silted myself into the debate as a typographical
neoconservative and a novitiate Barzunite, having insulted both pop
culture and the West, and implied an allegiance to elegance and the
author. I don't really want to mean this. Nevertheless, pls stet."
Janet Burroway; Language, Culture, And the Cop (sic) Editor;
The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington, DC); Nov 7, 1997.(E.A.)
i'm intrigued by the word 'Barzunite'...i immediately filed it in mind along the ranks of 'luddite' and 'sybarite' and [my personal favourite] 'troglodyte', but i'm wondering instead if this is simply a reference to the author (Barzun? Barzune?) of whom the editor is speaking.
anyone know where 'barzunite' comes from, and if it's indeed a broader reference to an historical group of people...or just some author's name?
while you're at it, is there a specific rhetorical term for the metaphorical borrowing of a noun referring to a group of people for use in describing a person who shares that group's salient qualities? and can anyone think of other examples of this phenomenon?
cheers ;-)
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
Welcome Cara Is there a word for paragraphs that make you dizzy on first reading? 
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
His massive, sweeping, and critically acclaimed historical survey, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (2000), was a surprise[!] bestseller. : )
tsuwmy?!.. hi cara!
oh yes, in the style of Jacques Barzun:
He is convinced that our age, despite its extraordinary technological capabilities, is an Alexandrian age: a time of cultural sunset, depleted energies and moral confusion. His summary of what he calls "our present decadence" shows that he does not regard decadence as a neutral historical fact but as a cultural, moral, and political disaster of the first order. (from a review of Dawn to Decadence.)
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
See also Oswald Spengler, Decline of the West, first published as Der Untergang des Abendlandes (1918/1923), but only if you are highly resistant to externally-induced depression.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
hi cara - always a pleasure to welcome a new face to the board :)
Sorry I can't help with your rhetorical term of art - our specialist in these hasn't been around much recently or I would have known exactly who to ask. She even used to take lists of such things down to the beach to memorise - now *that's dedication!
ps: not sure I even unnerstood your daftynition but!
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
can anyone think of other examples of this phenomenon?
How about "Marxist", after Karl Marx, or
Luddite "after Ned Ludd, an English laborer who was supposed to have destroyed weaving machinery around 1779."
[Dictionary.com]
re is there a specific rhetorical term for the metaphorical borrowing of a noun referring to a group of people for use in describing a person who shares that group's salient qualities?
How about ...
eponym
"A person whose name is or is thought to be the source of the name of something, such as a city, country, or era. For example, Romulus is the eponym of Rome."
[French éponyme, from Greek epnumos, named after : epi-, epi- + onoma, onuma, name; see n-men- in Indo-European Roots.]
Dictionary.com
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
Cara: It might be interesting to consider how the various suffixes are chosen for these eponymous words. For instance: Why does a follower of Karl Marx become a "Marxist" ... while a follower of Christ becomes a "Christian" ... while something dating back to the presidency of Thomas Jefferson is "Jeffersonian" and to the era of Queen Victoria "Victorian" ... while someone from Windsor is a "Windsorite" while someone from Phildadelphia is a "Philadelphian"? In summ: Why couldn't a "Marxist" be a "Marxian"?A "Marxist" is certainly a "Marxian", but is a "Marxian" necessarily a "Marxist"? "Soon after the death of Karl Marx, a Marxian school of economics emerged under the leadership of Marx's inner circle of companions and co-writers, notably Friedrich Engels and Karl Kautsky, both of whom were German." http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/marxian.htmMarxian [Dictionary.com] "One who studies, advocates, or makes use of Karl Marx's philosophical or socioeconomic concepts as a method of analysis and interpretation, as in political economy or historical or literary criticism."From this definition, it would seem that one could be a Marxian studying Marx's socioeconomic concepts without actually being a "Marxist". Which brings us back to where we started: How is an "ist" suffix different than an "ian" suffix, assuming there is any difference at all? And, if there is no deliberate and systematic difference in meaning, on what basis is the "ist" ending chosen over the "ian" ending, and vice versa?
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
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on what basis is the "ist" ending chosen over the "ian" ending, and vice versa?
This Q&A comes close to shedding light on these endings:
Ernesto Rocchetti from Italy writes:
I've got a question for you. Is there any rule which tells us when to use ....er and when to use .....ist at the end of a job name? For example:
painter or nutritionist
Roger Woodham replies:
There are no rules, I'm afraid, although a number of patterns emerge. Unskilled or semi-skilled job-holders are often denoted with …er, whilst those in scientific or medical professions are often designated with …ist. But there are many exceptions.
The …er suffix is very common, but so is …or. The …ist ending is also quite common, but so is …an. We also have …ant (accountant, shop assistant, civil servant, flight attendant) …man (postman, fireman, dustman, barman, draughtsman, fisherman), …ess (waitress, hostess, Headmistress) …ee (trainee, employee) and …ive (representative, machine operative), etc.
It is really a matter of learning them and knowing them. Learn them in word families .... ."
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
who (what) are you quoting from?
who is Roger Woodham?
(is it a source you've quoted before--(and i just missed the clue?) or an other source?
(is it included in the links that can be referenced by Max's page of language links or is it one that should be added?)
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