Re: Ick!

Posted by bob on May 23, 2003

In Reply to: Re: Ick! posted by TheFallen on May 22, 2003

: : : : : : Hi! Can you please explain the origin and meaning of the word "lowbrow?" Thank you, Sax

: : : : : HIGHBROW/LOWBROW - "Dr. Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828), founder of the 'science' of phrenology, gave support to the old folk notion that people with big foreheads have more brains." The theory, later discredited, "led to the expression 'highbrow' for an intellectual, which is first recorded in 1875.New York Sun reporter Will Irvin popularized 'highbrow,' and its opposite 'lowbrow' in 1902, basing his creation on the wrongful notion that people with high foreheads have bigger brains and are more intelligent and intellectual than those with low foreheads. At first the term was complimentary, but 'highbrow' came to be at best a neutral word .Life magazine coined the term 'middlebrow' in the mid-1940s." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

: : : : Calling some activity or entertainment or cultural event by one of these three terms is very chancy these days. There is no general agreement or clear dividing line to
: : : : clarify where (for example) middlebrow begins and ends. Unless you are willing to stand your ground against verbal attack, it's best to avoid the classifications. (But hey, being reckless, I'll give you a quick self-test: was your favorite film of the past year Adaptation, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, or Jackass? They are high, middle, low.)

: : : What if you went to see Adaptation but didn't really like it?

: : I didn't see any of those three. I saw About Schmidt, though. What does that make me? What would it make me if I'd gone just for Kathy Bates's nude scene?

: To answer the latter question, in need of some serious, intensive and long-term therapy, I'd say.

You don't have to *like* highbrow stuff. Just appreciate how the cattle couldn't possible grasp ... oh, never mind. I will never again sit through a Wagner opera, regardless of where that puts my brow.