the 3 p's of high-browing

sadly, i think my blogmate is right. those who use the word proletariat seldom are the proletariat. that was probably even true in the age of emile zola.

nevertheless, i give full credit for use of the word, and would like to add a few more to the list. i think you'll find that proletariat is the only one allusive to gloriousness.

my second favorite (after some debate and some time spent on dictionary.com) is plebeian. my former roommate (also known as the bride) introduced me to the word during the long debate about what we were going to name our (now tragically deceased) kitten. i was voting for miko, but tb decided that he was just to plebeian for such a sophisticated name. we ended up settling on emile, which (in retrospect) is only relieved of snotty connotations by its reference to the aforementioned writer.

finally there's pedestrian, as in "your taste in literature is so pedestrian." this ridiculous statement was made by one barista to another (i overheard it when i, myself, was employed as a coffee girl), who apparently failed to realize how absurd it sounded. baristas, admittedly are a bizarre breed of service industry types. really they're lower on the totem pole than waiters, cocktail waitresses and bartenders, but tend to be more artsy and well-read, thus feeling entitled to call other peoples' taste pedestrian.

i don't know what else to say. power to the people?