Word: babbittism
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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EVERY AMERICAN, whether of the hundred per cent or the more ebullient one half of one per cent variety, complacently believes in his own capacity for withstanding any exhibition of himself "as others see" him. The Babbitt Warren is an attempted expose of the American people, American customs, and the American spirit by an Englishman, who confesses guilelessly enough that he "has not had the privilege of visiting the United States". That his indictment of us in the flesh is based on what he would admit to be hear-say evidence is perhaps the kindest thing that can be said...
...Mencken possesses, like most successful Americans, a flair for slapstick showmanship, it may be doubted that the American Mercury is now read for idle-minded amusement by sheepish culture-hunters less than it is read with deep attention by serious people. The half-baked phrase-snatcher on whose lips "babbitt" and "moron" are now most often heard must infuriate Mr. Mencken while he continues to get out the most provocative review...
...Elmer Gantry'", he said in reply to a question, which the mention of Babbitt naturally brought up, "is not so good a work, to my mind, as Lewis' 'Arrowsmith'. I like his 'Arrowsmith' the best of all his works. I think, though 'Babbitt' necessarily forces itself into any consideration of the novels of Sinclair Lewis...
...Neighbor Brown's nutmegs, Neighbor Smith's pie tins and Uncle Timothy's rawhide "whangs" (shoe-laces). Bronson Alcott hit the road with tinware and almanacs instead of going to Yale. Worcester Polytechnic Institute was founded by John Boynton, onetime pack-peddler. The original soap Babbitt peddled razor strops. Benedict Arnold took woolens into Canada. Cherry rum, gingerbread and candy were the stock in trade of Phineas T. Barnum before, aged 25, he bought "161-year-old" Joyce Heth, "George Washington's nurse," and turned showman. Purloining a sheaf of his father's sermons...
...seriously doubt the learning of university faculties. But when professors attempt to apply their learning to vital matters, Mr. Babbitt becomes nervous and his newspaper howls. So it was last week. A large part of the faculty of Princeton University followed a large part of the faculty of Columbia University in advocating reconsideration of the Allied debts to the U. S. in a more altruistic light. President John Grier Hibben and 115 professors signed the Princeton petition. The Chicago Tribune was howl-leader. In an editorial headed "Piffle Patriots at Princeton" it said: "The reasoning of the Columbia professors...