"Acrid poverty?" Topic
5 Posts
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Editor in Chief Bill | 15 May 2020 3:44 p.m. PST |
I'm reading a history book, and the author tries a little too hard to be, um, fun to read. People suffered from "acrid poverty" a century ago? Acrid means "having an irritatingly strong and unpleasant taste or smell." Now, I suppose poor people might be smelly, but I don't think that's what the author meant. He's also mentioned American troops going off to Europe to "storm the beaches." But in WWI??? |
Tom Molon | 15 May 2020 4:31 p.m. PST |
If you think about all the New York City tenements at the turn of the century (1900 or so)full of immigrants with poor sanitation, and the smells of lots of different ethnic foods permeating the hallways, maybe "acrid" is an appropriate adjective after all. |
15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 15 May 2020 5:39 p.m. PST |
"Acrid" also has the less olfactory definition of "angry and bitter," so it could have a more symbolic (and less literal) meaning. Like Thomas Hobbes describing our existence as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." |
Stryderg | 15 May 2020 7:07 p.m. PST |
Maybe the poverty left an unpleasant taste in the mouths of the impoverished? Honestly, I'm really surprised humans are able to communicate anything worthwhile, ever. Especially considering the steps in the communication process. |
Texas Jack | 16 May 2020 2:48 a.m. PST |
But even if you use acrid in a more figurative sense, it isnīt the poverty itself that is angry and bitter. Perhaps a better choice would have been acute, which is a bit of a cliche but at least accurately describes the situation. As for storming the beaches, perhaps those doughboys off the farm just couldnīt wait to get to the Riviera. |
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