Just learned a new word: hypergamous. In the History Channel’s program “Lincoln,” Gore Vidal describes Lincoln as “socially hypergamous.” Sounds like something Vidal would say. Anyway, according to Wikipedia, “Hypergamy (colloquially referred to as ‘marrying up’) is the act or practice of seeking a spouse of higher looks, socioeconomic, caste or status than oneself.” Yeah, yeah, I know, you’ve used the word every day since you were a kid …
Not me personally PT, but the word may just have been used ABOUT me a time or two! 😉
🙂
Considering Lincoln’s looks and crimes, how could he have possibly married otherwise?
ROFL!
Uh, crimes? What crimes?
Pied: “Crimes? What crimes?”
Take your pick
Thanks, but I’m not up for a 90-minute video from an historical revisionist (purportedly).
If you have a list of crimes Lincoln was convicted of, I’d be interested.
maybe he forgot to return a library book?
Or neglected to pay a horse-hitching fine?
Had Adolf Hitler won his war, his conviction count would be equal to that of Lincoln.
Comparing Lincoln to Hitler? Wow. Just … wow
And that of course is the real point, PT and IMA. There is a big difference between the technicalities of law and the moral judgement of history, the former being only a subset of the latter. Eh?
From a new vocabulary word to history’s judgment of Lincoln and Hitler. Fascinating.
Given Abe’s looks, given that he was said to have a gait like a workman’s and a high-pitched voice, I would say he didn’t have to look too hard to be successfully hypergamous. And given the pictures I’ve seen of Mary Lincoln, he didn’t – Sally Fields looks stunning in comparison. IMHO.
However, I don’t share IMA’s obviously-Confederate opinion about Lincoln’s “crimes”. Signed any secession petitions lately there, IMA?
Judging from the Texans I’ve known, Texas has never really stopped considering itself a separate republic …
Many consider Texas a Mexican outpost….just as likely as secession?