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What's an (is there an) antonym for celebrity, both person and state, aside from the obvious possibilities like non-famous person and obscurity?
For context, Edgar Allan Poe writes:
Mr. Hawthorne, the author of Twice-Told Tales is scarcely recognized by the press or by the public, and when noticed at all, is noticed merely to be damned by faint praise. [M]y own opinion of him is that although [...] he is fairly to be charged with mannerism, treating all subjects in a similar tone of dreamy innuendo, yet [...] he evinces extraordinary genius, having no rival [...] in America [...] That this opinion [...] is a spoken and not a written one, is referable to the facts, first, that Mr. Hawthorne is a poor man, and, secondly, that he is not an ubiquitous quack.
And the heading for this excerpt: Poe imputes Hawthornes [insert term for lack of celebrity] to ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Plebrity?
Mittyriety?
My guess is there is no word for that concept.
TEd
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it seems as though there just aren't as many nouns for labeling a nobody (although there are adjs. aplenty):
A totally insignificant person: nonentity, obscurity, cipher, nebbish, nobody, nothing; mediocrity, insignificancy, man in the street. [Roget]
"an O without a figure" - Shakespeare
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Thank you for the suggestions.
How does "an O without a figure" mean unfamous?
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Carpal Tunnel
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When the Fool in Lear says "thou art an O without a figure," he means the numeral zero. This is echoed in the remainder of the line when he repeats the thought by saying "thou art nothing."
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Quote:
Plebrity?
Mittyriety?
My guess is there is no word for that concept.
Hmm. I guess you're right.
By the way, why is your avatar a tractor pulling a harrow? Just curious.
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Carpal Tunnel
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It's a pun on my name. I leave it for you to figure out. Hint. Not a harrow.
TEd
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To turn over and spread out (grass, hay, or straw) to dry or for bedding Remington.
I see.
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Quote:
non-entity?
juan! you've just mantled Roget!!
- joe (how  is that?) cool
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