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capitalist inheritors of the Nazi Mantle
mid line shift definition
Jul 19, 2008 00:14
15 yrs ago
English term

popcorn banality

English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
It’s the German disease. A lack of history. A lack of clear identity. Trying to work out who the hell we are. It’s what led us into Nazism. It’s what made us become ersatz Americans after the war: Like an errant child trying to make up by imitating it’s parent. It was that ultra-capitalist, popcorn banality that we despised. We declared war on mediocrity”
Responses
4 +1 mindless consumerism
3 +4 superficial way of looking at things
3 +1 popcorn, hamburger, pepsi culture...all negative American symbols
3 +1 boring insipidity
Change log

Jul 19, 2008 01:51: Trudy Peters changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (3): Mihaela Ghiuzeli, aricb, Trudy Peters

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Magicmarker (asker) Jul 21, 2008:
thank you for clarifying this to me.
Claire Chapman Jul 20, 2008:
Sometimes there is more than one translation for a term. In that case, select the answer that helps you the most, or that you actually choose to use.
Mihaela Ghiuzeli Jul 20, 2008:
If you do not select an answer based on what it makes more sense to you in your particular context, the question will close anyway and the points will be awarded to the answerer with the highest number of peers' agree.
Egil Presttun Jul 20, 2008:
If you don't know which answer is the best, you may choose not to select any answer, and let one of the answers be automatically selected on "peer agreement" after two weeks.
Magicmarker (asker) Jul 20, 2008:
Can I chose not to select the best answer for this one I'm not so sure which one I should select, they all make senses to me.
Magicmarker (asker) Jul 20, 2008:
thank you for clarifying this to me. Thank you very much.That helps with the classification.
Mark Berelekhis Jul 20, 2008:
Some of your questions are indeed not very difficult and qualify as non-pro. According to Kudoz FAQ, if a regular person (not a professional) would have difficulty answering your question, it's probably a pro question :)
Magicmarker (asker) Jul 20, 2008:
yes I think it not difficult for the experts like you, so I classified as non-pro. I'm not sure what should I classified, I do apologise if it's not suitable.
Mark Berelekhis Jul 19, 2008:
May I ask why all these questions are non-pro?

Responses

+1
19 hrs
Selected

mindless consumerism

Popcorn is what one traditionally eats while watching a movie in the US: it is common and predictable. Since the popcorn is eaten while the mind is busy watching the movie, one consumes it without thought. One should appreciate what one eats. And to eat something without thought or consideration or appreciation, is to waste it.

It is capitalism in the US and and the American way of mindlessly consuming goods and services, with no consideration of resources, and without appreciating it intrinsic value, that the author is saying that they despised. This is definitely a criticism of the herd mentality.

consumerism
3. the fact or practice of an increasing consumption of goods: a critic of American consumerism.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=consumerism

banality
Something that is trite, obvious, or predictable; a commonplace: Television commercials are full of banalities.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=banality


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Note added at 2 days17 hrs (2008-07-21 17:50:21 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

You're welcome, Magicmarker, and thank you :-) I'm glad to be of assistance.
Peer comment(s):
agree Richard Benham : Good take.
11 hrs
Thank you, Richard :-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thank you very much"
+1
34 mins

popcorn, hamburger, pepsi culture...all negative American symbols

take it as it is:negative symbols of the American culture although I don't buy into this negative condescending view.

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Note added at 37 mins (2008-07-19 00:52:53 GMT)
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Consumerism, superficiality, poor taste, dubious quality

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Note added at 40 mins (2008-07-19 00:55:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

have you heard of kitsch?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsch (Tofler?)
Peer comment(s):
agree Patricia Townshend (X) : Note also no apostrophe on its!
4 hrs
Thank you Patricia !
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

boring insipidity

For the author, popcorn seems to symbolize "blah". I don't think it's as much a question of negativity as of plainness and insignificance.
Peer comment(s):
agree Phong Le
11 hrs
Something went wrong...
+4
2 hrs

superficial way of looking at things

I would say but looking forward to more takes on this one :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2008-07-19 02:28:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

and just translating I add most sincerely
Peer comment(s):
agree Liam Hamilton
3 hrs
thanks Liam :)
agree katsy
5 hrs
thanks katsy :)
agree Shera Lyn Parpia
6 hrs
thanks Shera :)
agree LAILA ELBADRY
1 day 8 hrs
thanks Laila :)
Something went wrong...
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