Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
having pitched on their pet points of snobbery
English answer:
having promoted their favorite, snobbish ideas
Added to glossary by
Claire Chapman
Jun 6, 2009 11:09
14 yrs ago
English term
having pitched on their pet points of snobery
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Dear Colleagues, it's from "The Forsyte Saga"
"'Rainbow.' What do you think of the war?"
"Rotten, so far. The Boers aren't sports a bit. Why don't they come out into the open?"
"Why should they? They've got everything against them except their way of fighting. I rather admire them."
"They can ride and shoot," admitted Val, "but they're a lousy lot. Do you know Crum?"
"Of Merton? Only by sight. He's in that fast set too, isn't he? Rather La-di-da and Brummagem."
Val said fixedly: "He's a friend of mine."
"Oh! Sorry!" And they sat awkwardly staring past each other, having pitched on their pet points of snobbery. For Jolly was forming himself unconsciously on a set whose motto was:
'We defy you to bore us. Life isn't half long enough, and we're going to talk faster and more crisply, do more and know more, and dwell less on any subject than you can possibly imagine. We are "the best"--made of wire and whipcord.' And Val was unconsciously forming himself on a set whose motto was: 'We defy you to interest or excite us. We have had every sensation, or if we haven't, we pretend we have. We are so exhausted with living that no hours are too small for us. We will lose our shirts with equanimity. We have flown fast and are past everything. All is cigarette smoke. Bismillah!' Competitive spirit, bone-deep in the English, was obliging those two young Forsytes to have ideals; and at the close of a century ideals are mixed. The aristocracy had already in the main adopted the 'jumping-Jesus' principle; though here and there one like Crum--who was an 'honourable'--stood starkly languid for that gambler's Nirvana which had been the summum bonum of the old 'dandies' and of 'the mashers' in the eighties. And round Crum were still gathered a forlorn hope of blue-bloods with a plutocratic following.
Thank you in advance!
"'Rainbow.' What do you think of the war?"
"Rotten, so far. The Boers aren't sports a bit. Why don't they come out into the open?"
"Why should they? They've got everything against them except their way of fighting. I rather admire them."
"They can ride and shoot," admitted Val, "but they're a lousy lot. Do you know Crum?"
"Of Merton? Only by sight. He's in that fast set too, isn't he? Rather La-di-da and Brummagem."
Val said fixedly: "He's a friend of mine."
"Oh! Sorry!" And they sat awkwardly staring past each other, having pitched on their pet points of snobbery. For Jolly was forming himself unconsciously on a set whose motto was:
'We defy you to bore us. Life isn't half long enough, and we're going to talk faster and more crisply, do more and know more, and dwell less on any subject than you can possibly imagine. We are "the best"--made of wire and whipcord.' And Val was unconsciously forming himself on a set whose motto was: 'We defy you to interest or excite us. We have had every sensation, or if we haven't, we pretend we have. We are so exhausted with living that no hours are too small for us. We will lose our shirts with equanimity. We have flown fast and are past everything. All is cigarette smoke. Bismillah!' Competitive spirit, bone-deep in the English, was obliging those two young Forsytes to have ideals; and at the close of a century ideals are mixed. The aristocracy had already in the main adopted the 'jumping-Jesus' principle; though here and there one like Crum--who was an 'honourable'--stood starkly languid for that gambler's Nirvana which had been the summum bonum of the old 'dandies' and of 'the mashers' in the eighties. And round Crum were still gathered a forlorn hope of blue-bloods with a plutocratic following.
Thank you in advance!
Change log
Jun 20, 2009 04:19: Claire Chapman Created KOG entry
Jun 20, 2009 04:20: Claire Chapman changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/63813">Claire Chapman's</a> old entry - "having pitched on their pet points of snobery"" to ""having promoted their favorite, snobbish ideas""
Responses
+2
5 hrs
Selected
having promoted their favorite, snobbish ideas
They throw their favorite, personal biases into the conversation, laying claim to more expertise than they have. They discuss the war as if it were a polo match. Then one of them ridicules a man that he knows only by sight, insulting the other man.
pitch - verb
10. Informal. to attempt to sell or win approval for; promote; advertise: to pitch breakfast foods at a sales convention.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pitch
snob - noun
2. a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field: a musical snob.
snob
1781, "a shoemaker, a shoemaker's apprentice," of unknown origin. It came to be used in Cambridge University slang c.1796 for "townsman, local merchant," and by 1831 it was being used for "person of the ordinary or lower classes." Meaning "person who vulgarly apes his social superiors" arose 1843, popularized 1848 by William Thackeray's "Book of Snobs." The meaning later broadened to include those who insist on their gentility, in addition to those who merely aspire to it, and by 1911 had its main modern sense of "one who despises those considered inferior in rank, attainment, or taste."
http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=snob&search=search
snobbish –adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a snob: snobbish ideas about rank.
http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=snobbish&search=search
pitch - verb
10. Informal. to attempt to sell or win approval for; promote; advertise: to pitch breakfast foods at a sales convention.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pitch
snob - noun
2. a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field: a musical snob.
snob
1781, "a shoemaker, a shoemaker's apprentice," of unknown origin. It came to be used in Cambridge University slang c.1796 for "townsman, local merchant," and by 1831 it was being used for "person of the ordinary or lower classes." Meaning "person who vulgarly apes his social superiors" arose 1843, popularized 1848 by William Thackeray's "Book of Snobs." The meaning later broadened to include those who insist on their gentility, in addition to those who merely aspire to it, and by 1911 had its main modern sense of "one who despises those considered inferior in rank, attainment, or taste."
http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=snob&search=search
snobbish –adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a snob: snobbish ideas about rank.
http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=snobbish&search=search
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
7 mins
having (embarrassingly) mentioned matters about which they both felt snobbish
Merton speaks in exaggeratedly affected aristocratic tones, and is also from Birmingham, a big industrial centre at that time, so presumably he is someone who made his money in industry there. The upper classes, to which these two belonged, were inclined to feel superior towards people with these attributes. They are now both embarrassed, because merton turns out to be a friend of Val's.
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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-06 12:41:40 GMT)
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Pet points: two aspects of snobbery which particularly matter to them.
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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-06 12:59:35 GMT)
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The two aspects are "La-di-da" and Brummagem". They may also be snobbish about many other things.
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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-06 12:41:40 GMT)
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Pet points: two aspects of snobbery which particularly matter to them.
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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-06 12:59:35 GMT)
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The two aspects are "La-di-da" and Brummagem". They may also be snobbish about many other things.
Note from asker:
Why two aspects? |
But Merton is a geographic location here. The dialogue is between Val and Jolly |
Thank you anyway, you're a lot of help! |
Peer comment(s):
agree |
danya
: + "pet points"
1 hr
|
Yes, thank you, I should have said something about that. I've just added a note.
|
10 days
they began to boast choosing favourite subjects which reflected their belief in their superiority
"Snobery" (and the likes) is a wide subject which has one simple pecularity - it is always connected tightly to the theme of the context.It would be "their absolute superiority above all others of any class or category " in this text:"forlorn hope of blue-bloods with a plutocratic following" (!).
Discussion
When I have pitched on an idea, it means I have said it and I am not budging from this idea no matter what your argument is.