Pinkerton syndrome

Pronunciation




Etymology 1
In reference to the character Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton in the opera  (first performed in 1904) by Italian composer (1858–1924).

Proper noun

 * 1)  The tendency of some Asians to regard Caucasians as superior or more desirable, especially where marriage or relationships are concerned.

Etymology 2


Named after Scottish antiquarian, author and historian (1758–1826), coined by J. Derrick McClure: see 1985 quotation.

Proper noun

 * 1)  Having esteem for older Scottish literature but not the modern Scottish tongue.
 * 2) * 1985, J. Derrick McClure, “The Pinkerton Syndrome”, in Chapman: Scotland's Quality Literary Magazine, Edinburgh: Chapman Magazine and Publications, 55590049, pages 2–8; reprinted in Scots and Its Literature (Varieties of English around the World, General Series; 14), Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa., , 1996, ISBN 978-90-272-4872-5 , pages 57–58:
 * [page 57] The language of writers who are safely dead, and can be studied without fear of their exerting a subversive influence, bears the respectable label 'old Scots dialect'; the same tongue spoken by the living compatriots of these writers is 'bad grammar'. This attitude is of course not new; though perhaps seldom expressed so blatantly. I call it the Pinkerton syndrome, after one of the many memorable figures in out national gallimaufray of scholarly eccentrics. John Pinkerton (1758–1826), poet, critic, historian, dramatist and Celtophobe, in 1786 produced a book, entitled Ancient Scotish Poems, never before in print:  [H]e wrote: "none can more sincerely wish a total extinction of the Scotish colloquial dialect than I do, for there are few modern Scoticisms which are not barbarisms ... Yet, I believe, no man of either kingdom would wish an extinction of the Scotish dialect in poetry."  [page 58] This is the Pinkerton syndrome: the practice of paying lip-service, and sometimes much more than this, to the Scottish culture of the past while denigrating the Scots language of the present. And it is still prevalent today.