If you wish to object to the use of these words on the basis of their history, it’s understandable, since it is now lodged in your mind, but don’t forget about bulldoze.Īnyway, low-browed as meaning ‘unintelligent, bestial’ actually dates back all the way to the 18 th century – those 19 th-century ideas didn’t come from nowhere the first noted scientists to associate skull size with intelligence lived in the 18 th century, and it’s not likely that no one had had the thought before. (Do you raise an eyebrow?)Īll that said, though, the word has acquired different tinges and assumptions and no longer carries, at least for most speakers, implications about the relation of head shape to intelligence. That still happens, of course, but these days it’s not supposed to happen. That’s how things went in the 19 th century: the analytical urge was pressed into service of justifying prejudices and fortifying entrenched power. Hmm.) This was also generalized across races, going by stereotypes.ĭon’t even bother acting like you might be surprised by this. (However, too high a brow on a woman was considered less attractive.

A high brow on a man was considered an indicator of superior intelligence a lower one, and flatter forehead and so on, was considered an indicator of lesser wit and a more bestial nature. They concluded that the difference in skull shape was an index of level of intelligence, not just between species but within species. People – notably explorers and scientists, but not just them – looked at the skulls of various apes and compared them to human heads. Nope, they come from 19 th-century ideas about the size and shape of the head and its relation to intelligence. And I do not shun middlebrow things either – the ten thousand daily topics covered in news and conversation, the easy entertainments such as club music, escapes to Disney World and cruise ships, such like… just as long as I’m not stuck in crowds for too long.ĭo my tastes make you raise your eyebrows in surprise or an arch look? Or lower them in a glower or scowl or frown? Or do your brows stay in default position, altogether unsurprised?Īnd what about the words highbrow, lowbrow, and middlebrow?ĭid you know that they don’t refer to what you’re doing with your eyebrows? I appreciate highbrow things such as modern art, classical music (but more so medieval music and 20 th-century composers), and scholarly research – all those things that are limned in sesquipedalian disquisitions – but I also appreciate lowbrow things such as naughty jokes, country-style cooking, and the occasional escapist rubbish movie, all those things that are best talked about in plain, plain, plain English. Highbrow Magazine® is a registered trademark.My tastes are broad. Highbrow Magazine is a Limited Liability Company (LLC). Virginia Woolf once described a highbrow as “the man or woman of thoroughbred intelligence who rides his mind at a gallop across country in pursuit of an idea.” It is that pursuit of an idea that inspires us at the magazine to analyze and critique the events and personalities of our time. Her writings have been published in various publications and websites, including the Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gannett Newspapers, San Francisco Weekly, and AOL, among others. The magazine, established in August 2011, is the brainchild of Founding Editor & Publisher Tara Taghizadeh, who has worked for PostNewsweek Tech Media (a former Washington Post company), Gannett News Service, the National Geographic Book Division, Counterpoint Press, and The New Republic magazine, in addition to other news organizations and publishers. Highbrow Magazine® is a politically liberal, general-interest magazine covering News & Politics, Media, Arts & Entertainment, Food, and Travel.

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