Book Board Chat

I admit that I can be a bit of a Luddite due to laziness on my part to learn how to operate some of the new technology but I don't smash new technology either literally or figuratively. Nor do I think that people who use the latest inventions have brains of mush. Each invention takes us one step closer to the next and many, many of those inventions are life-saving when in the right hands.

Ever hear the one about the buggy whipmaker who said about the car, "It is just a passing fancy and will never replace the horse."

Etymology of the Day

Luddites

The Luddites were 19th-century English textile artisans who protested against newly developed labour-saving machinery from 1811 to 1817. The stocking frames, spinning frames and power looms introduced during the Industrial Revolution threatened to replace the artisans with less-skilled, low-wage labourers, leaving them without work.

Although the origin of the name Luddite is uncertain, a popular theory is that the movement was named after Ned Ludd, a youth who allegedly smashed two stocking frames in 1779, and whose name had become emblematic of machine destroyers. The name evolved into the imaginary General Ludd or King Ludd, a figure who, like Robin Hood, was reputed to live in Sherwood Forest.

In modern usage, "Luddite" is a term describing those opposed to, or slow to adopt or incorporate into their lifestyle, industrialization, automation, computerization or new technologies in general.