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Low-life (plural:low-lifes) (orlowlife) is a term for a person who is of low social status due to their low moral character. Examples of people typically referred to aslow-life includebullies,criminals,drug dealers,freeloaders, bums,drunkards,gangsters,sex offenders,pimps,aggressive panhandlers,scammers, andthieves.
Often, the term is used as an indication of disapproval ofantisocial orself-destructive behaviors, usually bearing a connotation ofcontempt andderision. This usage of the word dates to 1911.[1] The long-term origins of the ideas behind this in the Western world trace back to ancient times with the distinction ofhigh culture associated witharistocracy at the top of the social hierarchy who were regarded in aristocrat-dominated society as compared with low culture associated withcommoners at the bottom of the social hierarchy that included many impoverished people among them.
In common usage, the term can also be used for people associated with adhering tolow culture, or used to describe a crass, overly casual person who exhibits a lack of grace and refinement. In this sense, individuals do not necessarily need to be criminally destructive or hold ethically questionable views to qualify for the term.
Similar terms used for the same type of person include the Australian/New Zealand termferal.[2]
Reputation
editUpwardly mobile members of an ethnic group, committed to schooling, education and employment prospects, will often reject low-lifes who instead opt (willingly or unwillingly) for street or gang life.[3]
Attraction
editThe lure of the low-life for those in established social strata has been a perennial feature of western history: it can be traced from theNeronian aristocrat described byJuvenal as only at home in stables and taverns–"you'll find him near a gangster, cheek by jowl, mingling withlascars, thieves and convicts on the run"[4]–through the Elizabethan interest incony-catching,[5] up toWilliam Burroughs' obsession with thehobo, bum, or urban outlaw,[6] and through to the anti-heroes ofCyberpunk.[7]
Such interest may have a sexual component, based on the subconscious equation of socially low status with lack of inhibitions,[8] as with the Roman ladies described byPetronius: "Some women get heated up over the very dregs and can't feel any passion unless... among the lowest of the low".[9]
References
edit- ^"Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved2006-06-10.
- ^Examples of this usage can be found in such articles as Braunias, S.,. "The rise of anti-Jacinda Ardern ferals, fake news and its advocates", (New Zealand Herald, 16 July 2022, retrieved 27 September 2022) and "Furthermore, by refusing to condemn her Transport Minister for calling the protesters a "river of filth", or the Speaker for describing them as "the biggest collection of ferals that I've seen", Jacinda Ardern had clearly learned nothing from the 2016 US Presidential Primary, whenHillary Clinton alienated voters with her conceited description of grassroot Americans as "deplorables".", in Newman, M., "New Zealand turns sinister", (New Zealand Centre for Political Research, 3 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.)
- ^N. Flores-Gonzales,School Kids/Street Kids (2002) p. 107-11
- ^Gilbert Highet,Juvenal the Satirist (1962) p. 115
- ^B. Ford ed.,The Age of Shakespeare (1973) p. 57
- ^James Campbell,This is the Beat Generation (1999) p. 6 and p. 39-41
- ^G. Lovink,Uncanny Networks (2004) p. 116
- ^Otto Fenichel,The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 96
- ^Petronius,The Satyricon (1986) p. 142
Further reading
edit- Luc Sante,Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (2003)