What does being ivory tower mean?
1 : an impractical often escapist attitude marked by aloof lack of concern with or interest in practical matters or urgent problems. 2 : a secluded place that affords the means of treating practical issues with an impractical often escapist attitude especially : a place of learning.
Is there a real ivory tower?
There never was an Ivory Tower. There are towers and there is ivory, both quite real; it is their combination in the idea of an Ivory Tower which is both imaginary and consequential. Physical towers had both mundane and symbolic aspects.
Where does the term ivory tower come from?
The image of an ivory tower is used in the Bible in the Song of Solomon to describe a woman’s purity. The modern meaning of the term ivory tower first appears in France in the 1830s as tour d’ivoire to mean an impractical dreamer.
Is it ivory tower or Ivy Tower?
Why do people say “ivory tower” in reference to academia? The phrases “ivy tower” or “ivied tower” would seem to make more sense. A: The expression “ivory tower” has a long and interesting history, dating back to the Old Testament.
What does it mean to be blue-collar and ivory tower?
Blue-Collar workers are perceived to make less than white-Collar worker. White-Collar workers might work behind desk in the service industry, while Blue-Collar workers get their hands dirty doing manual labor or working in a division of manufacturing.
What does blue-collar or ivory tower mean?
If you describe someone as living in an ivory tower, you mean that they have no knowledge or experience of the practical problems of everyday life.
Is Academia an ivory tower?
Academia has long been ridiculed as an ivory tower filled with aloof professors who pursue niche academic interests while ignoring student needs and the “real world.” Given recent controversies over higher education’s racial biases, we must wonder whether such a critique is attributable to the ivory-skinned complexion …
Who lived in an ivory tower?
If you describe someone as living in an ivory tower, you mean that they have no knowledge or experience of the practical problems of everyday life. Jenkins should get down from his ivory tower and sample the real world. …
What does blue collar or ivory tower mean?
What is blue-collar and ivory tower mean?
Is arcane a real word?
known or understood by very few; mysterious; secret; obscure; esoteric: She knew a lot about Sanskrit grammar and other arcane matters.
What does white ivory tower mean?
An ivory tower is a place — or an atmosphere — where people are happily cut off from the rest of the world. The phrase most often describes academia, and it’s been around since the early twentieth century, from the French tour d’ivoire.