The idea of earnestness took off with the Industrial Revolution, but started to become unfashionable in the late 19th century and declined through the entire 20th:pic.twitter.com/05eDuny6Eo
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What this shows is that the word "earnestness" took off and become unfashionable, not the idea of earnestness.
If you know the history of this period, it wasn't just the word that became unfashionable. It wasn't just the word Wilde was mocking.
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How do we know earnestness declined? Seems like a big claim and that should require big weighty evidence.
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Post-rats vs rats
End of conversation
New conversation -
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Ah—this is interesting. So Wilde dunked on “earnest” ppl ~1895 (the importance of being earnest)
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