Harvey S. Wrote:
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> My understanding is that "snob" originally mean
> someone of lower class aping the behavior of the
> upper classes, which means that, in some fanfic,
> Miss Bingley is a snob. I know that people now
> frequently use it to mean a disdainful person of
> the upper classes, but I guess I'm old-fashioned
> enough to regard that as not a new meaning but a
> misuse of the word coming from overextension - the
> remark about fleas ad infinitum goes both ways,
> and someone of the 'upper classes' giving
> themselves airs as if they were Royalty is still a
> form of snobbishness.
I am not sure of what you mean by "aping." Was someone who had worked hard to raise his family's standard of living and who attempted to see that his children had an education, "aping" his superiors? How exactly we are defining his social superiors? A maid knew where she stood with her mistress, but should a woman whose husband could now afford to purchase her better clothes not "ape" her superiors -- or, as Mr. Collins would have it, buy clothes that would maintain the distinction of rank?
According to the online etymology dictionary, the word originally meant a shoemaker's apprentice. It came to mean someone who acted beyond their station. If one assumes that shoemakers should always remember their place and not strive for anything better, then certainly one would be aghast that they would "ape" their superiors. However, I think we have come to believe in our time that the idea a man (or woman) cannot rise beyond their parents is a snobbish one. Therefore, would we identify as snobs the people who are striving to be better, or would we call the people who would hold them down, snobs?
The etymology dictionary also explains that in Cambridge University slang, the word snob became interchangeable with merchants and tradesman. I cannot believe that all of the latter, by virtue of their profession, were vulgarly "aping" their superiors. I am sure those Cambridge students would have no trouble in identifying themselves as the superiors of merchants and tradesmen. In modern times, we have come to subscribe more to the ideal suggested in the words of Martin Luther King that a man is to be judged by the content of his character. I realize it is an ideal often imperfectly reached but do you really believe that money and position in an old family makes someone superior? It was accepted, I think, during the Regency period. At least we now give lip service to ideals that would call snobs the people who unthinkingly put others down.
So, yes, I think "vulgarly aping one's social superiors" is a bad thing. " Once I figure out who the superiors are, I will look with a jaundiced eye upon those nasty social climbers attempting to copy people who are better than they. In the meantime, I will continue to despise cruelty and insensitivity wherever I see it, whether in a king or a carpenter.
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> My understanding is that "snob" originally mean
> someone of lower class aping the behavior of the
> upper classes, which means that, in some fanfic,
> Miss Bingley is a snob. I know that people now
> frequently use it to mean a disdainful person of
> the upper classes, but I guess I'm old-fashioned
> enough to regard that as not a new meaning but a
> misuse of the word coming from overextension - the
> remark about fleas ad infinitum goes both ways,
> and someone of the 'upper classes' giving
> themselves airs as if they were Royalty is still a
> form of snobbishness.
I am not sure of what you mean by "aping." Was someone who had worked hard to raise his family's standard of living and who attempted to see that his children had an education, "aping" his superiors? How exactly we are defining his social superiors? A maid knew where she stood with her mistress, but should a woman whose husband could now afford to purchase her better clothes not "ape" her superiors -- or, as Mr. Collins would have it, buy clothes that would maintain the distinction of rank?
According to the online etymology dictionary, the word originally meant a shoemaker's apprentice. It came to mean someone who acted beyond their station. If one assumes that shoemakers should always remember their place and not strive for anything better, then certainly one would be aghast that they would "ape" their superiors. However, I think we have come to believe in our time that the idea a man (or woman) cannot rise beyond their parents is a snobbish one. Therefore, would we identify as snobs the people who are striving to be better, or would we call the people who would hold them down, snobs?
The etymology dictionary also explains that in Cambridge University slang, the word snob became interchangeable with merchants and tradesman. I cannot believe that all of the latter, by virtue of their profession, were vulgarly "aping" their superiors. I am sure those Cambridge students would have no trouble in identifying themselves as the superiors of merchants and tradesmen. In modern times, we have come to subscribe more to the ideal suggested in the words of Martin Luther King that a man is to be judged by the content of his character. I realize it is an ideal often imperfectly reached but do you really believe that money and position in an old family makes someone superior? It was accepted, I think, during the Regency period. At least we now give lip service to ideals that would call snobs the people who unthinkingly put others down.
So, yes, I think "vulgarly aping one's social superiors" is a bad thing. " Once I figure out who the superiors are, I will look with a jaundiced eye upon those nasty social climbers attempting to copy people who are better than they. In the meantime, I will continue to despise cruelty and insensitivity wherever I see it, whether in a king or a carpenter.