[Ads-l] Quote: Kind to her inferiors. And where does she find them? (antedating Dorothy Parker 1941 January 4)

[Laurence Horn]

> On Apr 19, 2015, at 1:18 PM, Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
> 
> I suggest that the 1867 quote, "respectful to superiors, and kind to inferiors and equals", doesn't really belong to the chain of not being able to find any inferiors.  
> It's rather in the tradition of the moral imperative of the late 17th & 18th centuries to defer to one's superiors and be obliging (courteous, civil, accommodating) and condescending (from the verb, "‘To depart from the privileges of superiority by a voluntary submission; to sink willingly to equal terms with inferiours’ (Johnson)") to one's inferiors.
> 
> The first part of the 1770 quotation from Dr. Johnson, "she was remarkable for her humility and condescension to inferiours, he observed, that those were very laudable qualities", also fits this -- humble before superiors, condescending towards inferiors.  


Notice also the positive meaning with which Dr. Sam imbues "condescension".  That positive character for "condescend"/"condescension" persisted at least through Jane Austen a half-century later, but when and how did it disappear and turn to a pejorative (at least in the U.S.)?  Has this revaluation been discussed somewhere?  It's easier to find information about the innovation of new senses or uses of words than the loss of old ones.  In fact, the current U.S. senses of "condescend"--given by AHD as

1. To do something that one regards as beneath one's social rank or dignity; lower oneself. 
2. To behave in a patronizing or superior manner toward someone

--are not exactly represented in OED entry (which as it happens includes the Johnson quote cited in Garson's entry and repeated by Joel above); for all that entry suggests, there's no pejorative flavo(u)r whatsoever adhering to the use of "condescend" and its nominalization.

LH



LH
> 
> I agree with Garson, however, that the second part of the witty Johnson's observation does mesh with Dorothy Parker:  "but it might not be so easy to discover who the lady’s inferiours were."
> Joel
> ________________________________

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