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	wankaholic 2007-02-10 11:13 pm UTC (link)
	This thread just made me very, very sad. It's fine that you didn't know about Brave New World, because it isn't as widely read as it used to be, but celebrating your ignorance? What? D: (Reply to this)(Thread)

	sequinedlizard 2007-02-10 11:28 pm UTC (link)
	I haven't read Brave New World yet either, just never really struck my fancy. But..yeah. 'Tis painful to watch some of the justifications going on over there. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	wankaholic 2007-02-10 11:29 pm UTC (link)
	It wasn't that s/he hadn't read it; it was that they'd never heard of it, and yet were proud of their ignorance. D: (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2007-02-10 11:48 pm UTC (link)

I *have* read BNW, don't remember pneumatic being used in it, do remember reading about 'pneumatic blondes' in just about any hardboiled detective work ever. All this 'But Brave New World wasn't on our curriculum!!' wailing seems a total red herring, given the Merriam Webster cite someone included. Standard usage, guys; standard usage.
-flemmings

(I almost wrote 'hardboiled dick' there and now my mind has followed that image into the gutter and down the sewer opening.)

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	nymeria 2007-02-11 12:11 am UTC (link)
	I like you and your sewer-residing mind. Want an account? ps wanna also buy a rolex? don't mind the green stuff around the edges. 's a new look. Yeah. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	the_mouse 2007-02-11 03:22 am UTC (link)
	It is used in BNW, because that's where I first encountered the term. (Hee!) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ecchaniz0r 2007-02-11 06:15 am UTC (link)
	Yeah. I think wossname, Lenina(?) is called pneumatic, because of her exquisite bosoomers. XD (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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the_mouse, 2007-02-11 10:58 pm UTC

	frenzy 2007-02-11 08:39 am UTC (link)
	Hey, me too! And I even looked it up, and found basically the same definitions as the OP did. I was so damn confused. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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the_mouse, 2007-02-11 11:02 pm UTC

	scarah2 2007-02-11 11:35 am UTC (link)
	I keep parsing "BNW" as "Big Name Wanker." (Reply to this)(Parent)

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rachel_pi, 2007-02-12 02:35 am UTC

(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2007-02-13 04:30 am UTC

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jat_sapphire, 2007-02-16 12:13 am UTC

	verthandi 2007-02-10 11:55 pm UTC (link)
	but celebrating your ignorance? I hate that trend so, so much. I could rant forever on it, but it would only result in a lot of teal deer and no funneh. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	wankaholic 2007-02-11 12:43 am UTC (link)
	Yes, hence why I'm not frothing at the mouth and ranting about it. Everyone hates the teal dear, and I'm too busy perfecting my deadpan anyway. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	iczer6 2007-02-11 03:28 am UTC (link)
	Teal deer? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	verthandi 2007-02-11 03:29 am UTC (link)
	tl;dr Say it slowly. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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iczer6, 2007-02-11 03:33 am UTC

(no subject) - verthandi, 2007-02-11 03:34 am UTC

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jat_sapphire, 2007-02-16 12:14 am UTC

(no subject) - verthandi, 2007-02-17 12:24 am UTC

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jat_sapphire, 2007-02-17 12:34 am UTC

(no subject) - verthandi, 2007-02-17 02:31 am UTC

	littlest_lurker 2007-02-11 03:44 am UTC (link)
	Oh god, me too. I hate how pervasive it is in American society and culture now. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	hallidae 2007-02-11 12:51 am UTC (link)
	Oooh, I hate that. ::bites tongue to avoid the teal deer:: (Reply to this)(Parent)

	cat_mcdougall 2007-02-11 01:02 am UTC (link)
	raises hand meekly I've never heard of it at all. Not even in passing. But then, the summary makes it sound like hard sci-fi and I don't read much hard sci-fi at all. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

hallidae
2007-02-11 01:07 am UTC (link)

I dunno what everybody else's opinion is, but I think it's fine you haven't read the book. Hell, I hated the damn thing. What I'm pissy about is that the people in the thread are like "Yay, I'm stupid, let's party!" or whatever. Even if you're just kidding around or being snarky, acting like being an idiot is a good thing grates me.

...Drat. Shoulda kept biting my tongue.

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	wankaholic 2007-02-11 01:07 am UTC (link)
	Yes, but you're not celebrating the fact. :) For the record, it's a satire, with a SF setting, and pretty good, even if you don't like "hard sci-fi." (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2007-02-11 02:40 am UTC (link)

It's not really hard SF, unless I've completely misunderstood the definition of that particular genre. I hate hard SF myself, but I really did like Brave New World. It's a dystopian novel (often linked with Orwell's 1984 and Ayn Rand's Anthem, although I don't think it's similar at all). It's been a while since I've read it, but I really don't remember there being much hardcore science-y stuff in the book at all. The book is more focused on society.

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	heddychaa 2007-02-11 08:46 pm UTC (link)
	I'm all for people not reading "classic" books if they just don't like them. I have avoided LotR for ages because ick. But Brave New World is not Sci-Fi, if that's your only qualm with it. Sc-Fi makes me grind my teeth, but Brave New World is positively lovely. Not to say that it will automatically be your cup of tea, however. Just that it's not Sci-fi. (Reply to this)(Parent)

gobsmacked
2007-02-14 07:19 pm UTC (link)

It's too bad that you didn't get some exposure to it. For many decades, it was Required Reading for High School and University students where I grew up, along with 1984. I'm not sure why they aren't anymore - maybe some kind of crazy right-wing religious thing - you know, like banning Harry Potter because it promotes witchcraft.

Anyway, here's my summary:
In a future society, people do not reproduce sexually. They do have sex, and lots of it, but no babies. The government controls reproduction in labs and creates a genetically based class system. (E.g., they put alcohol in the chambers of fetuses destined to be the manual and factory labourers to ensure that they are born with a sufficiently low intelligence). The novel is about what happens when one of the babies conceived by one of the "upper-class" couples gets brought up outside the system and is brought back into it.
Although written in the mid(?)-20th century, it's full of social commentary which is still valid today.

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	siobhania 2007-02-11 02:20 am UTC (link)
	I only read it for the dirty bits. That and the sexuality section of the Whole Earth catalogue were my pornography as a child. Maybe that explains some things. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ecchaniz0r 2007-02-11 06:17 am UTC (link)
	--! LOVES the Whole Earth Catalog Especially the last one Yay, Divine Right. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2007-02-13 04:24 am UTC (link)
	Yay for internet dramas! As for celebrating my ignorance, what would you rather I do? Beg at the feet of every person who knows more than I do? -Morganna_Gaia. (Reply to this)(Parent)

queencallipygos
2007-02-22 06:31 pm UTC (link)

Hmmm. I'm of two minds about this. I can buy their not having read the book, or heard of it; I can even buy their defensiveness about it (hell, if someone attacked me for not having known about the existance of something, I might get a little pissy -- I could see someone mocking me about football, and me responding with, "okay, if it makes me stupid to not know, or care, about what the definition of 'Hail Mary Pass' is, then I guess I'm stupid").

The only place I get lost is in the "how" they didn't know about BRAVE NEW WORLD. If they're only 17 or 18, I can buy it. Or if they grew up somewhere with a conservative school system. But if they're in their 30's in a blue state...then I'd be skeptical.

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