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Mopery
Mopery () is a vague, informal name for minor offenses. The word is based on the verb ''to mope'', which originally meant "to wander aimlessly"; it only later acquired the sense "to be bored and depressed". The word ''mope'' appears to have first been used in the 16th century, and appears in William Shakespeare's works. It has occasionally been put into use by police as a charge to bring when no other legitimate charge seems appropriate. It has also been used for satiric and/or comedic effect in books and films. Definitions In 1970, in Columbus, Ohio, mopery was defined as "loitering while walking, or walking down the street with no clear destination or purpose", and was used by police to stop and interview counterculture "hippies" who were regarded as unsavory. Some of those arrested were aggressively prosecuted by public prosecutor Karl T. Chrastan. In discussions of law, ''mopery'' is used as a placeholder name to mean some crime whose nature is not important to the problem at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vogelfrei
''Vogelfrei'' ( nl, Vogelvrij and af, Voëlvry) in German usage denotes the status of a person on whom a legal penalty of outlawry has been imposed. However, the original meaning of the term referred to independence, being "free as a bird"; History and etymology Originally, the word ''vogelfrei'' merely meant "as free as a bird, not bound." That is the usage in a German source from 1455. Even Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) used the term still in its original meaning. As of the 1507 Bamberg Halsgerichtsordnung (penal code of Bamberg) the term was linked to a person being banned. This resulted from the formulas: As you have been lawfully judged and banished for murder, so I remove your body and good from the state of peace and rule them strifed and proclaim you free of any redemption and rights ''and I proclaim you as free as the birds in the air'' and the beasts in the forest and the fish in the water, and you shall not have peace nor company on any ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loitering
Loitering is the act of remaining in a particular public place for a prolonged amount of time without any apparent purpose. While the laws regarding loitering have been challenged and changed over time, loitering is still illegal in various jurisdictions and specific circumstances. Prohibition and history Loitering has historically been treated as an inherent preceding offense to other forms of public crime and disorder, such as prostitution, begging, public drunkenness, dealing in stolen goods, drug dealing, scams, organized crime, robbery, harassment/mobbing, etc. Loitering provides a lesser offence that can be used by police to confront and deter suspect individuals from lingering in a high-crime area, especially when criminal intent is suspected but not observed. Local areas vary on the degree to which police are empowered to arrest or disperse loiterers; limitations on their power are sometimes made over concerns regarding racial profiling and unnecessary use of pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vagrancy
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporary work, or social security (where available). Historically, vagrancy in Western societies was associated with petty crime, begging and lawlessness, and punishable by law with forced labor, military service, imprisonment, or confinement to dedicated labor houses. Both ''vagrant'' and ''vagabond'' ultimately derive from the Latin word '' vagari'', meaning "to wander". The term ''vagabond'' is derived from Latin ''vagabundus''. In Middle English, ''vagabond'' originally denoted a person without a home or employment. Historical views Vagrants have been historically characterised as outsiders in settled, ordered communities: embodiments of otherness, objects of scorn or mistrust, or worthy recipients of help and charity. Some ancient sources ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Placeholder Name
Placeholder names are words that can refer to things or people whose names do not exist, are tip of the tongue, temporarily forgotten, are not relevant to the salient point at hand, are to avoid stigmatization, are unknowable/unpredictable in the context in which they are being discussed, or are otherwise de-emphasized whenever the speaker or writer is unable to, or chooses not to, specify precisely. Placeholder names for people are often list of terms referring to an average person, terms referring to an average person or a predicted persona (user experience), persona of a typical user. Linguistic role These Free variables and bound variables, placeholders typically function grammar, grammatically as nouns and can be used for people (e.g. ''John Doe, John Doe, Jane Doe''), objects (e.g. ''Widget (economics), widget''), locations ("Main Street"), or places (e.g. ''Anytown, USA''). They share a property with pronouns, because their reference, referents must be supplied by co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flâneur
() is a French noun referring to a person, literally meaning "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", or "loafer", but with some nuanced additional meanings (including as a loanword into English). is the act of strolling, with all of its accompanying associations. A near-synonym of the noun is . Traditionally depicted as male, a is an ambivalent figure of urban affluence and modernity, representing the ability to wander detached from society with no other purpose than to be an acute observer of industrialized, contemporary life. The was, first of all, a literary type from 19th-century France, essential to any picture of the streets of Paris. The word carried a set of rich associations: the man of leisure, the idler, the urban explorer, the connoisseur of the street. However, the flâneur's origins are to be found in journalism of the Restoration, and the politics of postrevolutionary public space. It was Walter Benjamin, drawing on the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, who mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mope
"Mope" is a song by American comedy rock band Bloodhound Gang, released in September 2000 as the fourth single from their third studio album ''Hooray for Boobies''. The song contains numerous samples such as "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco, "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica, the ''Pac-Man'' theme song, and Homer Simpson shouting "holy macaroni" from the "Treehouse of Horror VI" episode of ''The Simpsons''. A music video for the single was released in June 2000. Single track listing # "Mope" (The Bloodhound Gang Mix) # "Mope" (The Pet Shop Boys 7" Remix) # "Mope" (The Swamp Remix) # "Fire Water Burn" (The Bloodhound Gang Remix) The single also includes the "Cousin Mike" version of the music video for "The Ballad of Chasey Lain "The Ballad of Chasey Lain" is a song by American alternative rock band Bloodhound Gang. It was released in February 2000 as the third single from their third studio album, ''Hooray for Boobies'' (2000). The song reac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also applies to non-Western art music. Classical music is often characterized by formality and complexity in its musical form and harmonic organization, particularly with the use of polyphony. Since at least the ninth century it has been primarily a written tradition, spawning a sophisticated notational system, as well as accompanying literature in analytical, critical, historiographical, musicological and philosophical practices. A foundational component of Western Culture, classical music is frequently seen from the perspective of individual or groups of composers, whose compositions, personalities and beliefs have fundamentally shaped its history. Rooted in the patronage of churches and royal courts in Western Europe, surviving earl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slacker
A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early to mid 20th century, when Sudanese labourers protested their relative powerlessness by working lethargically, a form of protest known as "slacking". World wars In the United States during World War I, the word "slacker" was commonly used to describe someone who was not participating in the war effort, specifically someone who avoided military service, equivalent to the later term ''draft dodger''. Attempts to track down such evaders were called ''slacker raids''. During World War I, U.S. Senator Miles Poindexter discussed whether inquiries "to separate the cowards and the slackers from those who had not violated the draft" had been managed properly. A ''San Francisco Chronicle'' headline on 7 September 1918, read, "Slacker is Doused in Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freeloading
{{Short pages monitor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idleness
Idleness is a lack of motion or energy. In describing a person, idle means the act of nothing or no work (for example: "John Smith is an idle person"). A person who spends his or her days doing nothing could be said to be "idly passing his or her days" (for example: "Mary has been idle on her instant messenger account for hours."). An idle machine is stopped, exerting no work. A computer processor or communication circuit is described as idle when it is not being used by any program, application or message. Similarly, an engine of an automobile may be described as idle when it is running only to sustain its running (not doing any useful work), this is also called the tickover (see idle). Idleness as dependent upon cultural norms Typically, when one describes a machine as idle, it is an objective statement regarding its current state. However, when used to describe a person, idle typically carries a negative connotation, with the assumption that the person is wasting their time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On Language
''On Language'' was a regular column in the weekly ''New York Times Magazine'' on the English language discussing popular etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics. The inaugural column was published on February 18, 1979 and it was a regular popular feature. Many of the columns were collected in books. Columnist and journalist William Safire was one of the most frequent contributors from the inception of the column until Safire's death in 2009. He wrote the inaugural ''On Language'' column in 1979. starting it with the greeting: "How do you do. This is a new column about language." In more than 30 years, he contributed more than 1300 installments to the column. Safire was succeeded by Ben Zimmer, who wrote the column until its final edition on February 25, 2011. About the cancellation of the column, the incoming editor of ''New York Times Magazine'' Hugo Lindgren explained this and other changes to the magazine: "It is mine now. I'm in charge. We're g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Baker
Russell Wayne Baker (August 14, 1925 – January 21, 2019) was an American journalist, narrator, writer of Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical commentary and self-critical prose, and author of Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography '' Growing Up'' (1983). He was a columnist for ''The New York Times'' from 1962 to 1998, and hosted the PBS show ''Masterpiece Theatre'' from 1992 to 2004. The ''Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994'' stated: "Baker, thanks to his singular gift of treating serious, even tragic events and trends with gentle humor, has become an American institution." Background Born in Loudoun County, Virginia, Baker was the son of Benjamin Rex Baker and Lucy Elizabeth (née Robinson). At the age of eleven, as a self-professed "bump on a log," Baker decided to become a writer since he figured "what writers did couldn't even be classified as work." [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
