September 17, 2014

"Deeply... it's such a poser word."

Said Meade, reading the previous post "The NYT poll reports terrible numbers for Democrats, but calls the Republcian Party 'deeply unpopular.'" It made me wish I'd had a tag on the word "deeply" all along. It's a metaphor, creating an image of abstract concepts in space. Where are you when you are "deeply in love"? There are so many trite usages — deeply in love, deeply disappointed, deeply religious, thinking deeply, deeply troubled, deeply concerned, deeply offended, deeply regret — and "deeply" is deeply embedded in constitutional law doctrine with the phrase "deeply rooted in this nation's history and tradition." But I'm interested in seeing how is "deeply" is deployed in various political and cultural statements, so I've searched this blog's archive, and here's the best of what I found:

1. "Beauty is a system of power, deeply rooted, preceding all others, richly rewarded," wrote Garace Franke-Ruta, explaining "Why Obama's 'Best-Looking Attorney General' Comment Was a Gaffe."

2. "During the period when [Althouse] rose to blogging prominence, conservatism as an ideology was deeply discredited and unpopular.... But if you look at her whole body of work, you can't escape the conclusion that she's deeply conservative."

3. Sarkozy said "I deeply enjoy the work" (of being President of France), and I said: "Wouldn't it be amusing if some day, a President resigned because he just wasn't enjoying the work — not deeply, anyway?"

4. Talking about libertarians, I said: "I am struck... by how deeply and seriously libertarians and conservatives believe in their ideas. I'm used to the way lefties and liberals take themselves seriously and how deeply they believe. Me, I find true believers strange and -- if they have power -- frightening. And my first reaction is to doubt that they really do truly believe."

5. Last May, Tina Brown said: "Now that Chelsea is pregnant, and life for Hillary can get so deeply familial and pleasant, she can have her glory-filled post-presidency now, without actually having to deal with the miseries of the office itself..."

6. This John Stuart Mill passage came up in the context of a discussion about free speech: "Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself.”

7. Something President Bush said in 2006: "It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another. I'm troubled when I hear, deeply troubled when I hear, the fact that a person who converted away from Islam may be held to account. That's not the universal application of the values that I talked about."

8. "Clinton’s interest in global women’s issues is deeply personal, a mission she adopted when her husband was in the White House after the stinging defeat of her health care policy forced her to take a lower profile." [SEE ALSO: the use of "deeply personal" to refer to Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in a case about affirmative action. I find it deeply interesting when a woman's interest in an important issue is called "deeply personal." I'm reminded of the old feminist slogan "The personal is political," which I'm inclined to jocosely reword: "The deeply personal is deeply political."]

9. Somebody called Dahlia Lithwick "deeply frivolous" for what she said about the Supreme Court case known as "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," and I said: "I mean, if I were stoned I might be fascinated by the phrase 'deeply frivolous,' but I don't think Carney meant to divert us into contemplating an oxymoron."

10. A sociologist said: "I live on puns and snide, sarcastic asides. I don't look too deeply into myself or anyone else...  I drink a lot, take recreational drugs, don't care about much except being clever. I recently broke up with my girlfriend, and while I am eager to have sex, which I do often given the zillions of available women in New York, the sex is not especially fulfilling, and emotions rarely enter the picture. I am deeply shallow. And I know it."

ADDED:

11. One of Hillary Clinton's most famous quotes: "This video is disgusting and reprehensible.  It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage."

12. A self-professed liberal says: "the liberal commitment to Roe has been deeply unhealthy — for American democracy, for liberalism, and even for the cause of abortion rights itself....  Roe puts liberals in the position of defending a lousy opinion that disenfranchised millions of conservatives on an issue about which they care deeply while freeing those conservatives from any obligation to articulate a responsible policy that might command majority support...."

61 comments:

Opinh Bombay said...

The depth of the pool of male bovine digestive end product was deeply deceptive

cubanbob said...

. Last May, Tina Brown said: "Now that Chelsea is pregnant, and life for Hillary can get so deeply familial and pleasant, she can have her glory-filled post-presidency now, without actually having to deal with the miseries of the office itself..."

Wow! Tina Brown said something deeply astute for once…...

Ann Althouse said...

Rereading these quotes, I'm thinking "deeply" is experienced, subliminally as a sexy word. "Deeply penetrating," being the most obvious manifestation.

bleh said...

It's usually a douchey adverb. Sometimes it's okay, though.

Bob Boyd said...

BDNYC said...
"It's usually a douchey adverb. Sometimes it's okay, though."

You mean like:
'I took a long shower and bought the deepest douche bag I could find.'

Bob Ellison said...

Most adverbs should be cut.

David said...

"Deeply shallow" is pretty good. I gave that a solid A-.

Fernandinande said...

Mencken was deeply interested in his family history and collected books ...

Like so many echt Americans, Mencken deeply resented the British.

[Journalists are] not just marginally unintelligent, but, in Mencken's view, deeply, intractably ignorant ...

Valentino's predicament touched Mencken deeply ...

Written more than 80 years ago, Mencken's deeply cynical and amusing book ...

But the diary discloses Mencken's "deeply ingrained conviction ...

If you are also able to make a tax-deductible contribution to support the Mencken Club's activities, we would deeply appreciate it.

[Mencken] believed deeply that individuals should be left to pursue happiness as they saw fit, ...

One feels that Mr. Mencken is deeply outraged ...

Mencken, says Charles A. Fecher, was, "deeply conservative, ...

In denouncing censorship, Mencken was attacking one of the most deeply ...

For a long while, Mencken's deeply flawed but compelling caricature ...

Mencken was no nihilist, but a “serene and confident individualist, dedicated to competence and excellence and deeply devoted to liberty.”

As a young man, Mencken drank deeply from Nietzsche's cup.

Mencken was arrested ... The passage of Prohibition in 1920 enraged him, as he believed deeply that people ...

Mencken cared most deeply for the ...

Mr. Teachout shows how deeply Mencken was involved in the trial ...
+

Did Mencken ever use the word "deeply"?

Roy Lofquist said...

I deeply prefer poseur over poser.

Ann Althouse said...

I'm thinking "deeply" gets overused by writers who think they should never use "very."

You see this in legal writing. I think law review editors are taught to take out "very" wherever it appears, because it's meaningless clutter and a lame effort to intensify another word. "Deeply" seems more meaningful. It isn't, but it might have more immunity from editing.

Bob Ellison said...

James Thurber wrote that he once submitted "the building is pretty ugly and a little big for its surroundings" to New Yorker founder/editor Harold Ross.

Anonymous said...

"Clinton’s interest in global women’s issues is deeply personal, ..." ever since she defended her deeply philandering meal ticket husband against that deeply predatory twenty-one year old woman intern.

Bob Ellison said...

If Barack Obama were editing law review articles, would he cut the following?

* "Let me be clear"

* "As I said"

* "Make no mistake"

Writ Small said...

"Deeply" is like "classy" in that seeing it makes me wonder if the opposite isn't true.

traditionalguy said...

We start life deep in the deep womb, and when we think of first principles we touch that deep womb experience again, except those of us hatched.

The Deep was a good movie about deep oceans where treasure is sunk. We go down deep looking for treasured experiences in our depths.

Getting back out is the hard part, especially for the PTS minds.

Wince said...

Rereading these quotes, I'm thinking "deeply" is experienced, subliminally as a sexy word. "Deeply penetrating," being the most obvious manifestation.

"Balls deep."

Ann Althouse said...

I deeply prefer poseur over poser."

Ha ha. Poser!

The OED entry for poser:

A person who poses; a poseur.

1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 24 Dec. 11/1 Besides the professional posers of the studio there are..the posers of the Row, the posers at afternoon teas, the posers in politics, and the circus posers.
1907 G. B. Shaw Major Barbara ii. 213 The man..is young, agile, a talker, a poser, sharp enough to be capable of anything except honesty or altruistic considerations of any kind.
1987 Guardian (Nexis) 16 Sept., I've always been a poser,..but the first time I did a modelling job I was shit scared.
2001 Sun 27 Jan. 9/1 The former World Cup striker is shown as a precious poser who wears a blond wig and refuses to play if it's raining.


For poseur:

A person who deliberately adopts a particular attitude or pose; a person with an affected or pretentious style or demeanour. Cf. poser n.2

1869 Putnam's Mag. Apr. 409/1 This poseur came to harangue Barcelona.
1881 Contemp. Rev. May 683 The same womanish and uncontrolled poseur.
1887 Athenæum 1 Jan. 34/1 The latest attitudes in literature, art, and politics are presented in a way to make poseurs of all sort either laugh or wince.
1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart 57 If you let yourself be beaten by that trickster and poseur, never dare to approach me again.
1977 Time 8 Aug. 46/3 But his life as self-styled genius and unrepentant poseur continues to tantalize.
1995 Maxim July 102 If you're a total poseur, then you should try a sun make-up product, which, applied carefully, can give you instant colour to disguise those sunglasses marks.


The first 3 uses of "poseur" are in italics, designating the perception that it's a French, not an English word. The first non-italicized usage is by George Bernard Shaw, in 1930, but we've also got Shaw doing "poser," and that's back in 1907. This may be due to different editors, not to Shaw himself.

I think either is good, but if you want to criticize posers, it's better to use the more English word and not get Frenchy.

Ann Althouse said...

Also, do you want to say "POSE-er" or something more like "po-ZEWER."

Bob Ellison said...

I agree with you, Professor: if we have a good English word and we're writing in English, we should use the English word. Otherwise you invite a schadenfreude over your own je ne sais quoi.

What was Dr. Seuss thinking when he wrote this?

We never can win against so many Poozers,
And so I suggest that it's time we retreat!

Nonapod said...

Also, do you want to say "POSE-er" or something more like "po-ZEWER."

Only if your name is Kilowog.

(to anyone who got that reference, you're a huge nerd)

Mary Beth said...

By the time I got to the end of the trite usage examples, "deeply" sounded less like a word and more like a sound a muppet would make.

khematite@aol.com said...

Told that someone "has a lot more depth" than is apparent, a character in a Peter de Vries novel replies, "Only on the surface. Deep down, he's shallow."

Hagar said...

My head is not working so well this morning, what with the weather and all. There is water falling from the sky.

However, the Administration created another new word that I think the Professor could have some fun with in the last couple of days, or perhaps it was the weekend. I think it had to do with their Middle East "policy," was middling long, and began with "de".

I was going to comment on it, but there wasn't a suitable cafe post.

~ Gordon Pasha said...

This post wins the navel gazing award on the internet for the day.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I miss Crack. Is he traveling or something?

Hagar said...

and the word had to do with what they are going to do, or rather not going to do there.

Rae said...

I'll fill in for Crack.


White words man. Your using the slaveowners tongue, and you don't even know it.

How did I do?

Roy Lofquist said...

Was ist mit der "Frenchy" madchen? Ich bin ein Berliner!

David said...

Ann Althouse said...
I'm thinking "deeply" gets overused by writers who think they should never use "very."

You see this in legal writing. I think law review editors are taught to take out "very" wherever it appears, because it's meaningless clutter and a lame effort to intensify another word. "Deeply" seems more meaningful. It isn't, but it might have more immunity from editing.


Very true.

Paul Sand said...

Good movie: Truly Madly Deeply. Alan Rickman plays a good guy, against all typecasting.

Hagar said...

BTW,
a "poser" is a question for which you do not have a ready answer.

Hagar said...

and a "poseur" is John F. Kerry.

Anonymous said...

As we, as a nation, are in deep shit; we must first determine who shat so deeply.

Poseur? As Miss Piggy says, "Pretentious? Moi?"

traditionalguy said...

Being a reformed poser is like being a non drinking alcoholic. Now that's a deep subject.

Birkel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ann Althouse said...

"BTW,
a "poser" is a question for which you do not have a ready answer."

OED has a separate entry for that "poser," not related to the French word "poseur."

2. A difficult or perplexing question; a puzzle. Also: a tricky or intractable problem.

1793 Sheridan in Sheridaniana 147 This was a pozer.
1836 Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) x. 94 With the air of a man who was in the habit of propounding some regular posers.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick cviii. 524 ‘Is't a riddle?’ ‘I should humbly call it a poser, Sir.’
1894 Law Times 97 387/2 Interrupting the arguments by questions in the nature of posers.
1929 W. S. Maugham Extraordinary Sex in Nash's Mag. (1929) June 60 ‘What else is there in Gerrard?’ That, I admit, was a poser.
1966 S. Smith Frog Prince & Other Poems 86 Of course the blackberries growing closer Make getting in a bit of a poser.
1978 C. James in Observer 11 June 23/4 The third alphabet, Kanji, is the poser. Composed of roughly 2,000 Chinese ideographs, it is better regarded as a vocabulary than as an alphabet.
1999 Yahoo! Internet Life Dec. 97/2 When I initially answered the poser of how significant Bill Gates would be, in the blink of Posterity's eye, my comments were adolescent, mean-spirited, smart-ass, and just plain stupid.

Ann Althouse said...

I love that oldest spelling: "pozer."

Birkel said...

I am struck (deeply struck to stay on theme) by how you think the ideas of conservatives are to be believed instead of trusting the empirical results. One can witness "progressive" ideas causing deprivation and harm. Please point to any counter-example where conservative ideas have resulted in genocide, mass starvation and et cetera.

It's not belief.

Richard Dolan said...

"A poser word."

Nice phrase, better than 'verbal fluff' or other alternatives. You wonder who the audience is for that stuff. I suppose it's the same audience that posers usually target -- people who aren't too sure of themselves, feel a bit insecure and are easily impressed.

As for the idea that 'deeply' is experienced 'subliminally' as a 'sexy word.' that seems a bit overthought. It's just a word used as am emphatic, where the point is to emphasize the deepness of the speaker, not what is being spoken about.

And speaking of poser words, 'subliminally' would rank right up there with 'deeply.'

Misinforminimalism said...

I couldn't get past that the word should read "poseur."

Anonymous said...

Well, we've had metaphor alerts for several years.
Now it's time for some adverb alerts.
What next, dangling participle alerts?

Anonymous said...

Adverbs and metaphors are good tools to help writers and journalists slither out of plagiarism charges.

n.n said...

It's an emotional appeal preceding the sale.

Just an old country lawyer said...

The overused intensifier for lawyers for the last 40 or so years is "clearly."

Hagar said...

Aah, it was Josh Earnest on Monday's press briefing, and the word was "deconflicting."

Bob R said...

Deeply is OK with rooted and penetrating and it works with shallow as a joke. Otherwise, cut it.

dwick said...

Dorothy (Dustin Hoffman's character in the movie 'Tootsie'): "Yes, you did. And she was shunned by all you nurses, too...what do you call it, uh, like a pariah, to you doctors who found her outspokenness threatening. But she was deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply loved by her brother. It was this brother who, on the day of her death, swore to the good Lord above that he would follow in her footsteps, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, just, just, just, just, just, just, just, just, just, just owe it all up to her. But on her terms. As a woman. And just as proud to be a woman as she ever was. For I am not Emily Kimberly, the daughter of Dwayne and Alma Kimberly. No, I'm not."

Dorothy's voice deepened as he ripped off his feminine disguise - he removed his glasses, tore off his false eyelashes and removed his wig:

I'm Edward Kimberly, the reckless brother of my sister Anthea... Edward Kimberly, who has finally vindicated his sister's good name. I'm Edward Kimberly. Edward Kimberly. And I'm not mentally ill, but proud, and lucky, and strong enough to be the woman that was the best part of my manhood. The best part of myself.

At home watching the show on television, his roommate Jeff Slater (Bill Murray) exclaimed: "That is one nutty hospital!"

eddie willers said...

Sam Daniels: Alarmingly high fatality. All localized within a three mile radius. Incubation period: short. Appears contained. Alarmingly. Casey, you didn't put "alarmingly."

Casey Schuler: It's an adverb, Sam. It's a lazy tool of a weak mind.

(Dustin Hoffman and Kevin Spacey in the movie Outbreak, 1995)

rhhardin said...

I just peed, he said deeply.

- Palindromic Tom Swifty

Crimso said...

"This post wins the navel gazing award on the internet for the day."

Indeed. Jack Handey called. He wants his thoughts back.

William said...

Poseur is the kind of word that a poseur would use. So if you use that word to identify a poser are you subverting your own identity or intensifying that of the poser? There is much that is just below the surface, but that doesn't mean it's deep.

Anonymous said...

I disagree. It's useful. There is a difference worth expressing between being disappointed and deeply disappointed or between superficial roots and deep roots when it comes to removal or change. I can actually feel the difference as I think of it and that's when I throw a deeply in. Systemic is another one, but you do need something to express the concept.

Anonymous said...

Maybe that's it. It's a code word acceptable in a professional setting for "I feel you" and so publicists and politicians have thrown it in so many times to give the appearance of caring that they've made it cheap - and it's pissing Meade off!

Michael K said...

"Deeply" might be a good adjective for the Deep State. No matter that the author is a lefty. He is talking a lot of truth.

Jupiter said...

I once referred to Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol as a posers in a letter to the Editor. Said Editor changed it to poseurs. When I wrote him to complain of this, he responded with a quote from the Merriam-Webster College Edition Abridged Dictionary of the English Language. He couldn't understand why I thought it peculiar that a person who worked with words would even have such a thing around, let alone quote from it.

LordSomber said...

"Deeply" is just as an overwrought adjective nowadays as "amazing."
Immediate BS red flag.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"The most important thing Catalist allows the left to do is drive deeper into the pool of extreme left wing Americans who are otherwise unmotivated to actually vote.
"
-J. Christian Adams


Lot of evidence here of what I have know for a long time: 40% is bigger than 20% so focusing on independents and not your base is dumb.

Idiots tell it to idiots who pay them for the idiocy, then blame the damned electorate for being so stupid.

Anonymous said...

Ann said:

I think either is good, but if you want to criticize posers, it's better to use the more English word and not get Frenchy.


yes!

Unknown said...

why did I see that as "derply"?

Tom said...

For what it's worth, the word is "poseur."

Just sayin' ...

eddie willers said...

For what it's worth, the word is "poseur."

Just sayin' ...


Agreed...I've never seen the word 'poser' used as having the same definition as 'poseur' until this thread.

In fact, the very spelling as poseur defines the word and the person to whom it is directed.

NOT spelling it that way makes it seem like you do not know what the word means.

Irks me almost as much as when people say 'mute' when they mean 'moot'.