4 ms·

Fiefdom? What do you mean?

silviot 5y ago
I'm no native speaker nor have I ever heard that word before. Looking online I found this definition: fiefdom /ˈfiːfdəm/ a territory or sphere of operation controlled by a particular person or group. "a mafia boss who has turned the town into his private fiefdom"
- jacobolus 5y ago
  A fiefdom is the domain of a feudal lord. Like "kingdom" but where the lord could be a duke, earl, baron, ... Historically, lords had nearly absolute legal authority over the peasants living in their domain.
- wott 5y ago
  'fiefdom' in English with the slightly redundant -dom suffix, simply 'fief' in French (a term commonly used), and closer to the root, 'feudo' in Italian and Spanish.
roflc0ptic 5y ago
Yes, what the other commenters said. By exerting unilateral control, he's destroying the existing democratic governance mechanisms and making it a sort of rule by dictatorship. If you metaphorically treat freenode as territory, you can say that it's become Lee's fief, or fiefdom.
newsclues 5y ago
It’s when a manager or leader thinks they are the king or God of their little organization, and typically run it like a despotic ruler
jcranmer 5y ago
The term 'fief' comes from Medieval land tenure, where it's land granted to a lord in exchange for feudal service. Pop medievalism holds that feudal lords had pretty unlimited rights (the reality is that it's far more complex), and so the term 'fiefdom' in modern contexts carries a connotation that the ruler of the fiefdom is ruling it tyrannically. Another element of the modern connotation is that a fiefdom is usually small, and the ruler is acting as if it's rather more important than it actually is. In short, it's a backhanded insult.
- MisterTea 5y ago
  > Another element of the modern connotation is that a fiefdom is usually small, and the ruler is acting as if it's rather more important than it actually is. > In short, it's a backhanded insult. [citation needed]
  - allannienhuis 5y ago
    Not sure where you could get citations for general cultural references like this. For what it's worth, his description of it being an insult is exactly how I understand it to be used too. Someone who thinks they are more powerful or important than they really are. Native English speaker here.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

I'm no native speaker nor have I ever heard that word before. Looking online I found this definition: fiefdom /ˈfiːfdəm/ a territory or sphere of operation controlled by a particular person or group. "a mafia boss who has turned the town into his private fiefdom"

jacobolus 5y ago
A fiefdom is the domain of a feudal lord. Like "kingdom" but where the lord could be a duke, earl, baron, ... Historically, lords had nearly absolute legal authority over the peasants living in their domain.
wott 5y ago
'fiefdom' in English with the slightly redundant -dom suffix, simply 'fief' in French (a term commonly used), and closer to the root, 'feudo' in Italian and Spanish.

roflc0ptic 5y ago

Yes, what the other commenters said. By exerting unilateral control, he's destroying the existing democratic governance mechanisms and making it a sort of rule by dictatorship. If you metaphorically treat freenode as territory, you can say that it's become Lee's fief, or fiefdom.

newsclues 5y ago

It’s when a manager or leader thinks they are the king or God of their little organization, and typically run it like a despotic ruler

jcranmer 5y ago

The term 'fief' comes from Medieval land tenure, where it's land granted to a lord in exchange for feudal service. Pop medievalism holds that feudal lords had pretty unlimited rights (the reality is that it's far more complex), and so the term 'fiefdom' in modern contexts carries a connotation that the ruler of the fiefdom is ruling it tyrannically. Another element of the modern connotation is that a fiefdom is usually small, and the ruler is acting as if it's rather more important than it actually is. In short, it's a backhanded insult.

MisterTea 5y ago
> Another element of the modern connotation is that a fiefdom is usually small, and the ruler is acting as if it's rather more important than it actually is. > In short, it's a backhanded insult. [citation needed]
- allannienhuis 5y ago
  Not sure where you could get citations for general cultural references like this. For what it's worth, his description of it being an insult is exactly how I understand it to be used too. Someone who thinks they are more powerful or important than they really are. Native English speaker here.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]