The Discreet Charm of the norms: how we define people Bashny.Net

The discreet charm of standards

At one of the sites classified dating girls from Nizhny Tagil:

Smart, attractive, self-sufficient, she wants to get acquainted with clever, cute, decent, self-sufficient young man for a serious relationship.

Very fine: attractive girl and the young man must be nice (ie, beauty is not necessary, let it be at least the minimum charm); a beautiful girl and need a decent man (logical).

But the rest is the same:. Need a smart intelligent (of course, silly to be annoying), and both self-sufficient (although, if they are self-sufficient, it is not clear, because they need each other)

And in general - that, in fact, she had in mind? Maybe self-sufficient - a modern euphemism for expression without financial problems? In part, probably so, but not only. She probably wanted to say that it is not only the material is quite independent, but also psychologically balanced and able to be implemented in the work that she has friends, hobbies.




In general, young people need it not as a vest, not a straw for the drowning man, she does not plan to grab it and hang a bulldog on him all their problems. But she is not ready to sacrifice themselves to save from poverty or alcohol addiction and generally roam on burning huts.

Of course, the word self-sufficient is not only used in the marriage announcements. They say, for example, self-contained child - that is, one that does not have to constantly entertain. Sitting for a long time myself, draws, plays with toys. Generally this word is now very fashionable.

The Internet is full of discussions about who is a self-sufficient person. Not that it was quite new, but in the past it was used infrequently and was quite bookish. (By the way, here I am writing, and my Word word-sufficient stresses that he does not know this word.) Moreover, it is generally not applied to a specific person. Here are some typical examples:

In the literature of classicism and the Enlightenment developed a special type of aphoristic thinking, ie thinking and self-sufficient individual rounded thoughts in conception independent of its context. (Bakhtin. Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, 1963).

Humanistic Anthropology, recognizes the human being self-sufficient, was a natural reaction against the oppression of man in a traditional Christian consciousness. (Berdyaev. The problem of man, 1936).

Now from the former literacy remained except easy claim to profundity. Until recently, dictionaries slovosamodostatochny interpreted as "the same as self-sufficient." Here slovasamodostatochny history intersects with another story. I'm talking about the difficult fate of the verb prevail.

It is meant to be "sufficient" (cf .: "dominates unto the day is the evil thereof", ie "sufficient for each day is its own trouble";.. Here - topical). Actually, dominate - the same root, that is enough. However, in the modern Russian language, it has taken hold in a completely different meaning - "to suppress, gravitate" arisen on accord, saying the pressure to suppress. Wed .: "Monument dominates the area", "Above it dominates the thought" ... In the middle of the last century dictionaries recognize this value (although it still remains somewhat vulgar).

This provoked protests from purists. Academician VV Vinogradov said the note, which traced the meaning of the verb fluctuations dominate as much with the end of the XVII century. Preserved a remarkable document - a letter writer Fyodor Gladkov on the president of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR AN name Nesmeyanova containing polemics with VV Vinogradov (it is published in the commentaries to the works of Vinogradov). Beautiful is the finale:

I have no doubt that the culture of the language is not less expensive than the writers for you. And I think that this signal is not a writer you will treat indifferently. Maybe you can find a minute to request or galley layout with this unfortunate word and see how it has been interpreted in the model Dictionary of the Academy of Sciences, as opposed to historical linguistics and common sense (1952).

As forget the old meaning of the verb prevail, it lost its inner form and book adjective self-sufficient. Accordingly, its synonym self-sufficient and get the benefits. By the end of the last century it became the preferred and hitting a massive usage, and got a new meaning. In any way it is impossible to say because "self-sufficient child", "self-contained self-sufficient girl get acquainted with a man» ...

Fashion for the word self-sufficient is understandable. Recently, the Russian language has become much more favorable than in the past, look at the simple matching of human psychic norm. Especially clearly evident in the emergence of new values ​​in the words adequate and sane.

The word adequate is now extremely widely used in relation to man. It does not indicate what this person is adequate. Just - adequate, that is, without the cockroaches in my head, without unexpected and strange manifestations, without complexes, overvalued or fixed ideas. And most importantly, it is intended that all of this - well

. Sane - also good quality person. In the legal sense, responsibility implies that the person is aware of the acts committed, so you can judge for them. However, in common parlance the word is not related to the crimes: sane - so quite reasonable, able to understand what he is told. And they say not only about the sane people, but also about vmenyamyh texts sane views, and even sane prices.

"He is a very adequate and absolutely sane" - it is now almost the highest possible praise. And behind it there is some entirely new view of life. Recall "Ordinary Miracle" Schwarz: "Are you crazy?" - "What are you, on the contrary! I'm so normal, that surprised myself. " Of course, this phrase says the chief villain - Minister administrator, and it is impossible to imagine that it uttered another hero of the play

. I emphasize here is not to call names crazy - it's not the focus. Everyone remembers indicate different types of mental disorders, which are used as swear words without effort. And the words inadequate and nevmenko, although just quite new, but conceptually uninteresting. Because the blame for the intellectual inferiority - that's all you want, but the praise of normality - it is something our culture is really brand new

. Quality

In summer 2011, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with representatives of youth organizations of the North Caucasus Federal District. At this meeting, he, in particular, said:

"The Caucasus, North Caucasus for Russia not ballast, it is one of the jewels of Russia. First of all, because it is very high quality, very strong human potential, a very deep cultural layer.. »

I am interested in the qualitative determination. Word of the quality, quality in recent years have greatly expanded the scope of use. Voobschekachestvo - the so-called parametric word, such as, for example, height, depth, weight, temperature, speed. Interestingly, in these words is often a great value, pardon the tautology, the value of the corresponding parameter.

For example, in the phrase "What's his temperature?" Temperature - parameter, and the phrase "He is sick, has a fever" - setting. In this case, the temperature - the same as the highest temperature. Exactly the same thing with the quality: quality assessment - setting and appreciate the quality - value. I'm not talking here, of course, the word quality in the "property" value (emotional quality), which is, incidentally, has a shape and a single and plural.

Adjectives can be formed from both parametric values ​​nouns. For example, the word age. One thing the age limit, the other - the new age woman in labor (ie the elderly). And the word of quality: quality indicators - a quality indicators (so good it's there or not - especially not known), and a quality product - a good, correct, not harmful, reliable

. Of course, the quality may use the word, and by extension - for example, to avoid the kinds of platitudes and cliches, to say that the quality of the girl smile. This will be a game. However, the dentist can say it in a literal sense.

Speaking of product. Quality - is not characteristic of any object, but first of all products, goods. If the flowers are growing in the field, but even grown in the flower garden, we do not say that they are of good quality. But if you come to the flower shop - then yes. Oh good or bad as cutlets normally say no when they are cooked at home.

It is the same with the word quality. High-quality socks - it is rather a product stocking factory, not the toes of her grandmother loved granddaughter birthday. So many people are so popular right now injure the expression quality of life. They were seen at this picture of the lives of the huge supermarket, where everything has its price, where there is nothing of a piece, and everything is made according to GOST or TU there.

So, back to Putin. "High-quality human capital" - is a technological view of the people. Not by chance the network has a comment: "But nothing of the quality of human materyala really quite Nazi sounds!". It's funny that the writer made a mistake when quoting instead the potential memorized material. Most likely, it is due to the definition of a quality having industry associations. But it is interesting here more.

It would be a mistake to think that the word quality Only chiefs can use against people. It can also be expressed and intellectual, but by investing in this definition is a whole different meaning. Here, for example, he wrote the poet and essayist Lev Rubinstein about Dean Goder, theater critic and a wonderful man in birthday greetings:

You, I know, highly appreciate such a category as quality. "Quality people" - the highest praise in your mouth. And not that you are, quite frankly, infinitely tolerant to lavish similar characteristics to the right and to the left. I also appreciate that category. And also not prone to unprincipled complacency. Therefore, I firmly say: you, Dean, extremely high-quality people. The full guarantee of the quality of a hundred and twenty years. And then - check

. It is quite clear what is the definition of a well as qualitative. Here, in my opinion, two reasons. Firstly, our eternal fear of pathos. The fear of this, it seems, even increased in comparison to the Soviet period. Still now in addition to the semi-official pathos there is also a bunch of other Paphos, and all want to somehow distance. And the word of good-quality, precisely because of its adaptability.

And secondly, in our postmodern, relativistic and others. Era very much unsafe words characterizing the moral character of the person. Too easily, they are assigned to anyone, filled with some not so meaningful. We know how easy it is to juggle in this game.
We understand how everything in life is difficult and ambiguous. But this we do not stop to see and appreciate the simple things in people: human reliability, capacity for friendship and organic inability to betrayal. Therefore it is convenient to use the word, as far as possible from the sphere of moral values, materialistic and businesslike, objective. One can argue about who is a good man.

Still, there will have to recall all of world literature with theater and cinema (well, there are "bad good man," and so forth.). And who is a quality person, in general, of course.

Author: Irina Lewontin from the book "What is it"