|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35
newbie
|
OP
newbie
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35 |
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 ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Plebrity?
Mittyriety?
My guess is there is no word for that concept.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
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
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35
newbie
|
|
OP
newbie
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35 |
Thank you for the suggestions.
How does "an O without a figure" mean unfamous?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
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."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35
newbie
|
|
OP
newbie
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35 |
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.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
It's a pun on my name. I leave it for you to figure out. Hint. Not a harrow.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35
newbie
|
|
OP
newbie
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35 |
To turn over and spread out (grass, hay, or straw) to dry or for bedding Remington.
I see.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
Quote:
non-entity?
juan! you've just mantled Roget!!
- joe (how  is that?) cool
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35
newbie
|
|
OP
newbie
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 35 |
Getting closer. Quote:
obscurity noun 1 the novel plots Carlottas rise from obscurity to stardom insignificance, inconspicuousness, unimportance, anonymity; limbo, twilight, oblivion. ANTONYM: fame.
New Oxford American Dictionary İ
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
> juan! you've just mantled Roget!!
I never said a thing.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
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!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20 |
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" ?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
celebritous = 1080 Google hits
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20 |
Sure. But celebritic is better.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
deleted as inconsequential
Last edited by TEd Remington; 03/06/06 09:42 AM.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Quote:
But I've often wondered why there's not an adjectival form of celebrity.
There is: celebrated.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
... as in the jumping frog in the Twain story.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Some seem to think it's "notorious"... does anyone have a first edition?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20 |
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.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
> 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]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20 |
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.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,562 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,562 Likes: 1 |
Poysonally, I think "obscurity" is about as close as you're going to find.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 557
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 557 |
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".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I smell a troll around here somewhere. Do you smell a troll? I certainly definitely smell a troll.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
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.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20 |
Take the lingual reasoning test, then decide.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Quote:
Take the lingual reasoning test, then decide.
If you can't lick 'em, join 'em?
TEd
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,373
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
1 members (wofahulicodoc),
166
guests, and
2
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
