She would like to be an aristocrat. She said so, now, I know exactly what she meant because she has no aspirations to belong to any specific social group, except maybe only the good, kind, cultured, compassionate group if there was one. I understood what she meant, except I really do have a problem with the global term “Aristocrat”. I just do.
I think the term should be deleted from our common modern everyday lingo. It is no longer valid and says nothing about anyone anymore. You know, I think there should be Spring cleaning for languages and some words should simply be brushed under the carpet or even dumped in the bin, someone should decide when a certain term has served it’s time and should be put to sleep, words like aristocrat, cacophony, apogee, smitten….. I can go on, but linguistics is not the topic of the day.
I realize that Aristocrats existed at one point and the term exemplified a certain social standing and a certain life style that came with certain privileges that only this group of people had access to. At one point it might have meant education, manners, culture, exquisite material possessions etc… since only money could buy the above. But today are there anymore of them? Does the term describe anything relevant anymore, or does it merely describe anyone with money regardless whether they do have the other required ingredients or not. And what are these ingredients in this day and age.
What makes an aristocrat now? During this time when money is available to the general public and not only inherited, during this time when any piece of information is right at your finger tips, during this time when education is an eventuality and culture is available to the masses what differentiates an aristocrat today. Could aristocrat today maybe just maybe describe someone with manners, someone that knows how we deal respectfully with people, someone with ethics and integrity?
