"Culture" : Etymology and a Lesson from Yeats

Hello,

I'm new to this group and all I did is read some of latest messages.
The one about "culture" attract my attention is particular.

Without going to dictionaries or etymology, it is quite clear that
many people confuse word "culture" with other meanings that go under
the "mother-culture" word. They are: arts, literature, science,
reason, level of knowledge, behavior etc. Therefore, for ex. a person
who does not appreciate arts or literature is NOT any un-cultured
person, as many tend to believe. Instead of calling such person "un-
cultured", it's better to say "he's not an artist" or "he doesn't
like literature" ? and it's that simple.

I notice that depending on the society we belong to, we tend to call
different people un-cultured especially if they bothered us with a
certain attitude classified within our circle as "strange". Surely
many of us heard expressions like: "He/She's such an uncultured
individual" (often word individual is replaced here by certain
nationality). Thus, for many, expression un-cultured sounds as an
insult. People mean to use it as an insult and others feel insulted.
But HELLO!!! We do not realize that "un-cultured person" expression
is utopian in a first place!!

We do agree that culture is simply a way of living, "it's the
attitude" (quoted from below message), whether good or bad in our
point of view, attitude coming from the experience we earn on certain
ground, and showed within how we use the knowledge coming from that
experience. Not without a reason within synonyms of "culture" we
find: capacity, erudition, improvement, learning, savoir-faire,
skill, training... (http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=culture).

So, going back to my main point, I'd like to underline that we are
all cultured people. We only come from different cultures, often each
one representing and believing in different values. Calling anybody:
writer, scientist, Nobel price winner or garbage collector "un-
cultured" is a great misunderstanding. Culture is a behavior build
upon social heritage together with our additional personal species.
It's not only how we define big words ex. religion, morals, language,
etc that we represent but also how we deal with other (not minor)
issues like: fear, responsibility, bravery etc.

So, is there still any un-cultured person around?

Ati

--- In Pen_Temple_Pilots@yahoogroups.com, Camel wrote:
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> "For without culture or holiness, which are always the gift of a
very few, a man may renounce wealth or any other external thing, but
he cannot renounce hatred, envy, jealousy, revenge. Culture is the
sanctity of the intellect." - William Butler Yeats
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> That was a valuable lesson from Yeats, the great Irish poet. As we
always stress in PTP: Culture is an attitude?
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> The word "culture" has an interesting etymology. It developed over
time to mean many things:
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> 1440, "the tilling of land," from the Latin word "cultura"*
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> 1510, the figurative sense of "cultivation through education" is
first attested
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> 1805, "the intellectual side of civilization";
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> 1867, "collective customs and achievements of a people"
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> Camel - Keeper of the Temple
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> * Did you ever notice the relationship between the words Culture
and Agriculture?
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> Source:
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> http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cult
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> ---------------------------------
> Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page

Dear Ati and all Templars

A few weeks ago I sent a message on the group entitled "Does Culture
matter". What I learnt is that each of us in this group or
outside of it is cultured. Yet if most Egyptians (i am not
generalizing) are cultured one way or another, then we would find clean
streets, green parks, less noise and more culture events.

Cairo is the city of Culture in the Arab world, but being cultured is different: I may not like sculpture. Maybe I do not understand it. Does that mean I am not cultured?
I may have read a lot of books. Does that mean the person next to me is ignorant?
The ignornant person next to me may understand latin dances or culture
better than me. In the end no one is perfect and therefore no one is
fully cultured. I have been active on PTP but yet I still learn from
everyone (new or old members)

Cheers

Honda Jazz