3 ms·

She already shows her lack of knowledge in her first sentence -> "The Dark Ages"

by nix23 4y ago

yamtaddle 4y ago
As far as I can tell the term remains in limited use by modern scholars, largely to describe periods & places of the time span traditionally so-labeled that happen to be particularly lacking in primary sources so are indeed, in that sense, "dark", as in lacking illumination and obscured. Seems to me that usage would fit OK for the setting of Beowulf. Or it may have been employed in the colloquial sense, which also seems fine and clear, IMO.
- nix23 4y ago
  No just no, you don't use that term if your a knowledgeable middle-age historian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography)
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    Yes just yes. Since that supports exactly what I wrote.
    - nix23 4y ago
      >>and today's scholars also reject its usage for the period. >>The majority of modern scholars avoid the term altogether due to its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate. That's NOT what you wrote....
      - yamtaddle 4y ago
        To quote myself: > in limited use Which is supported by the article you cited. My only point was that its presence wasn't necessarily reason to decide the author doesn't know what they're talking about. I also think the "poetic" sense of it, in context, is wholly enough to defend its usage here against such out-of-hand dismissal of the author over it. Since I did provide two reasons someone who's not unqualified to write on this topic might choose to use it. In general I find that fans of fields tend to be more pedantic about this kind of thing than practitioners, sometimes to the point of being wrong from the perspective of those in the field (see: "the US isn't a democracy, it's a republic!")
Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
> Eleanor Johnson is an associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University
- nix23 4y ago
  Yes even worse to use the term "Dark Ages"

She already shows her lack of knowledge in her first sentence -> "The Dark Ages"

by nix23 4y ago

She already shows her lack of knowledge in her first sentence -> "The Dark Ages"

As far as I can tell the term remains in limited use by modern scholars, largely to describe periods & places of the time span traditionally so-labeled that happen to be particularly lacking in primary sources so are indeed, in that sense, "dark", as in lacking illumination and obscured. Seems to me that usage would fit OK for the setting of Beowulf. Or it may have been employed in the colloquial sense, which also seems fine and clear, IMO.

nix23 4y ago
No just no, you don't use that term if your a knowledgeable middle-age historian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography)
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Yes just yes. Since that supports exactly what I wrote.
  - nix23 4y ago
    >>and today's scholars also reject its usage for the period. >>The majority of modern scholars avoid the term altogether due to its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate. That's NOT what you wrote....
    - yamtaddle 4y ago
      To quote myself: > in limited use Which is supported by the article you cited. My only point was that its presence wasn't necessarily reason to decide the author doesn't know what they're talking about. I also think the "poetic" sense of it, in context, is wholly enough to defend its usage here against such out-of-hand dismissal of the author over it. Since I did provide two reasons someone who's not unqualified to write on this topic might choose to use it. In general I find that fans of fields tend to be more pedantic about this kind of thing than practitioners, sometimes to the point of being wrong from the perspective of those in the field (see: "the US isn't a democracy, it's a republic!")

Doctor_Fegg 4y ago

> Eleanor Johnson is an associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University

nix23 4y ago
Yes even worse to use the term "Dark Ages"