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Posted By: Stag_Beetle Antonym for celebrity? - 03/03/06 09:08 PM
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 Hawthorne’s [insert term for lack of celebrity] to ...
Posted By: TEd Remington Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/03/06 09:13 PM
Plebrity?

Mittyriety?

My guess is there is no word for that concept.
Posted By: tsuwm Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/03/06 10:14 PM
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
Posted By: Stag_Beetle Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 05:43 AM
Thank you for the suggestions.

How does "an O without a figure" mean unfamous?
Posted By: Father Steve Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 07:17 AM
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."
Posted By: Stag_Beetle Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 08:47 AM
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.
Posted By: TEd Remington Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 10:29 AM
It's a pun on my name. I leave it for you to figure out. Hint. Not a harrow.
Posted By: Stag_Beetle Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 11:19 AM
To turn over and spread out (grass, hay, or straw) to dry or for bedding Remington.

I see.
Posted By: WhitmanO'Neill Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 06:57 PM
non-entity?
Posted By: tsuwm Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 08:09 PM
Quote:

non-entity?




juan! you've just mantled Roget!!

- joe (how is that?) cool
Posted By: Stag_Beetle Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/04/06 08:12 PM
Getting closer.

Quote:

obscurity noun 1 the novel plots Carlotta’s rise from obscurity to stardom insignificance, inconspicuousness, unimportance, anonymity; limbo, twilight, oblivion. ANTONYM: fame.

New Oxford American Dictionary ©




Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/05/06 08:25 PM
> juan! you've just mantled Roget!!

I never said a thing.
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.


How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
Posted By: Person_Man Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/06/06 04:13 AM
Quote:

What's an (is there an) antonym for celebrity?




Everybody else?

I don't think there is one, because it is a term used for distinguishing an uncommon condition from an almost universal one. It's kind of like asking: "What is the opposite of a twin?" Non-twin? There's no polar opposite.

But I've often wondered why there's not an adjectival form of celebrity. How about:
"sell-ah-BRI-tik" ?
Posted By: Father Steve Adjectival form of celebrity - 03/06/06 05:17 AM
celebritous = 1080 Google hits
Posted By: Person_Man Re: Adjectival form of celebrity - 03/06/06 05:25 AM
Sure. But celebritic is better.
Posted By: TEd Remington Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/06/06 09:40 AM
deleted as inconsequential
Posted By: AnnaStrophic Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/06/06 12:16 PM
Quote:


But I've often wondered why there's not an adjectival form of celebrity.




There is: celebrated.
Posted By: Father Steve celebrated - 03/06/06 01:05 PM
... as in the jumping frog in the Twain story.
Posted By: musick Celebrated - vs - notorious frog - 03/06/06 01:20 PM
Some seem to think it's "notorious"... does anyone have a first edition?
Posted By: Person_Man Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/06/06 01:56 PM

Quote:

But I've often wondered why there's not an adjectival form of celebrity.
Quote:

There is: celebrated.







The difference between the adjectival form of a word and an adjective for a word was clear enough for the rest of the posters. I guess I won't pay any attention to one quibbler's facetiae.
Posted By: maverick Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/06/06 02:02 PM
> The difference between the adjectival form of a word and an adjective for a word was clear enough for the rest of the posters. I guess I won't pay any attention to one quibbler's facetiae.

and the rest of the posters are thus supposed to conclude we're dealing with yet another tedious vituperative little sock-puppet [yawn]
Posted By: Person_Man Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/06/06 03:56 PM
Here's a lingual reasoning test.

Which of the following two sentences is a better example of vituperativeness?

Quote:

1. The difference between the adjectival form of a word and an adjective for a word was clear enough for the rest of the posters. I guess I won't pay any attention to one quibbler's facetiae.




Quote:

2. and the rest of the posters are thus supposed to conclude we're dealing with yet another tedious vituperative little sock-puppet [yawn]




Oh, by the way maverick, don't bother to answer this question. You've already failed. But here's your homework:

facetiae: (archaic) humorous or witty sayings.
quibble: (archaic) play on words.
Posted By: Person_Man Re: Antonym for celebrity? - 03/06/06 03:57 PM
Damn. Now that's a burn!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Ouroboros - 03/06/06 03:59 PM
Poysonally, I think "obscurity" is about as close as you're going to find.
Posted By: Myridon Is a celebrity JUST famous? - 03/06/06 05:01 PM
Seeing the title of the post, my first thought was infamy, but all the other posters seem to be going for un-famous rather than un-popular or "un-well-liked".
Posted By: Father Steve Eau de Troll - 03/06/06 08:05 PM
I smell a troll around here somewhere. Do you smell a troll? I certainly definitely smell a troll.
Posted By: TEd Remington Re: Eau de Troll - 03/06/06 08:41 PM
Quote:

I smell a troll around here somewhere. Do you smell a troll? I certainly definitely smell a troll.




We'll cross that bridge eventually, Fr Steve. I'm sure he's driving a Toyota, though: Troll is in a Cressida.
Posted By: Person_Man Re: Eau de Troll - 03/06/06 08:47 PM
Take the lingual reasoning test, then decide.
Posted By: TEd Remington Re: Eau de Troll - 03/06/06 09:48 PM
Quote:

Take the lingual reasoning test, then decide.




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