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Culturally solvent?

Posted by TheFallen on March 14, 2003

In Reply to: Culturally solvent? posted by ESC on March 14, 2003

: : To keep you culturally solvent, Smart has rounded up a cornucopia of the best oddity-possessing museums in the world which can be visited both in person and online.

: : To keep you culturally solvent,does it mean that to help you to view these 'cultural' things without costing you too much?

: I've never heard the expression, but I am 99 percent sure it doesn't have to do with money. I am guessing that it means culturally knowledgeable. That you know what you need to know to function in a society.

This from the American Heritage Dictionary:

SOLVENT

ADJECTIVE:
1. Capable of meeting financial obligations.
2. Chemistry Capable of dissolving another substance.
NOUN:
1. Chemistry a. A substance in which another substance is dissolved, forming a solution.
b. A substance, usually a liquid, capable of dissolving another substance.
2. Something that solves or explains.

None of which is much help. However, I've noticed solvent being used more and more often recently to mean knowledgeable, just as ESC says - I suppose it still means "being capable of fulfilling a demand", except for information, not payment.

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