Quote:
Originally Posted by dadioflex
Once upon a time the sum knowledge of the world was, relatively, tiny and smart people all read the same books and were able to show one another how well-educated and erudite they were by punning hilariously over these classics. These classics were invariably written in Latin or ancient Greek and covered philosophy, mathematics and engineering, amongst other things.
The "classics"being discussed above, horribly modern books written in languages which aren't even dead, provide a similar, if rather less broadly based, experience for the literary reading elite.
In the last fifty years there's been an information supernova and society, for better or for worse, is less hidebound or dogmatic. Being "well read" is rather more of an option and less a necessity to measure one's worth. We have money for that now.
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Man! Am I glad to have had Latin and Greek at school, too, now that I am broke
