Word: ross
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Though Noblesse Oblige is obviously the definitive work on the subject, the controversy really began with a learned paper, published in Helsinki by Philologist Alan S. C. Ross of the University of Birmingham. "Today," said Ross, "a member of the upper class is, for instance, not necessarily better educated, cleaner or richer than someone not of this class...
...apart are minor-"the games of real tennis and piquet, an aversion to high tea, having one's cards engraved (not printed) and, in some cases, a dislike of certain comparatively modern inventions such as the telephone, the cinema and the wireless." But in general, added Ross, the best way to tell the U person is by his way of speaking...
...Take a Bath. Though Philologist Ross admitted that "silence [is] perhaps the most favorite of all U usages today." the upper classes do have to open their mouths sometimes. They may repress a shudder at saying "Cheers" when drinking, but they will flatly refuse to say the non-U "God bless!" They do not "take a bath"; the U version is "have one's bath." U usage is a nought for the U.S. zero, and what? for pardon! The word civil has a special meaning for the upper class: it is "used to approve the behavior...
Computer experts are fascinated by the question: Will thinking machines ever be as intelligent as the human brains that create them? Dr. W. Ross Ashby of Britain, a mathematically minded psychiatrist, believes that the machines can at least "amplify" human intelligence just as the engine of a bulldozer amplifies the muscle power of the man who controls...
...American who did best at the stock market last week was a ten-year-old boy. Leonard Ross, 4 ft. 4 in. tall, of Tujunga, Cal., started reading books about far-off Wall Street at the age of seven, when his father, a certified public accountant, roused his interest in the market. Once Lenny had acquired some learning, it was plain that the way to make a killing without risking the capital he didn't have was to become a contestant on a television quiz show...