Word: parvenus
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...York society," declared Colonel William d'Alton Mann, "is inhabited by jackasses, libertines and parvenus." Not that he minded. For one thing, they made sensational copy for his scurrilous, scandalous Town Topics. For another, the publicity-shy Four Hundred provided him with a lucrative sideline: Publisher Mann was the nation's most notorious blackmailer. He was also a Civil War hero, a talented inventor and a bon vivant. Nearly forgotten since his death in 1920, he re-emerges in this witty, engaging biography by The New Yorker's Andy Logan as a prize addition to the gang...
...husband's family owned two), antifeminists, the cult of the Common Man. It was idealism, not malice, that propelled her bricks and bons mots. She scolded Stalin for "shooting your enemies, and that sort of thing," scorned the late Joe McCarthy to his face, belittled the Vanderbilts as parvenus: "The Astors skinned skunks a century before the Vanderbilts worked ferries...
...became Sir Bernard in time for the 17th edition), the book is a kind of Who Was Who that lists more than 150,000 names, and traces each lordly family back to its earliest noble ancestor, thus clearly differentiating survivors of the old, landowning aristocracy from the plebeian parvenus whose titles, created in the past half-century, now represent more than 50% of the peerage...
Ideally, the charity ball provides a useful social ladder for the rising and able newcomer to enter Society. If the parvenus seldom wangle invitations for the intimate little dinners of the inner circle, it scarcely matters; their daughters will be asked to the right deb parties and meet the right boys. And when they are married, they can give intimate little dinners of their...
...that extends from Saratoga to stud farms in England. France, Australia and South America. After 24 years as an auctioneer and "pitchman." British-born Finney knows as much as any man about the cash value of good horseflesh-and about the strange habits of the bidder. Finney scornfully tolerates parvenus whose extravagantly high offers make no horse sense, pointedly admonishes bidders when he thinks the offers...