This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Literature, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Literature on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LiteratureWikipedia:WikiProject LiteratureTemplate:WikiProject LiteratureLiterature articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Children's literature, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Children's literature on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Children's literatureWikipedia:WikiProject Children's literatureTemplate:WikiProject Children's literaturechildren and young adult literature articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women writers, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of women writers on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Women writersWikipedia:WikiProject Women writersTemplate:WikiProject Women writersWomen writers articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EnglandWikipedia:WikiProject EnglandTemplate:WikiProject EnglandEngland-related articles
Latest comment: 2 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Although this is quite the trivial matter and the following no doubt constitutes hair-splitting exactitude of a pretty tiresome sort, the point struck me as worth looking at, and it doesn't seem any harm can come from raising it: are there any specifics of her upbringing that could be used to support use of "sumptuous" over simply "comfortable", or something similar (or slightly less "purple")? If, as seems at first glance to be the case, her upbringing was that of the wealthy upper-middle-class, the word may be warranted, but for my money it sits oddly in the sentence to the extent of being almost distracting. What I mean to say is, the articles of others of comparable or, even, wealthier/ higher status background don't go to the extent of specifically assessing said background as "sumptuous", which seems almost a subjective judgement. Sir Charles Oman, however eminent in his field, was an academic, knighted as a result of his own work, not a duke with grand ancestral estates; for example, her ODNB entry says she was born at 32, Beaumont Street, Oxford, which is an admittedly sizable but by no means extravagant domicile, accessed directly from the street. The family's later home was Frewin Hall, a university property, where per his probate record Sir Charles Oman died. Evidently he did not own the property (it bears observing however that his probate record gives his estate as £42,067, 0s, 10d- apparently in 2021 equivalent to £1.8 million- by a considerable way the largest sum on that page, the next largest being a tenth of that amount. He presumably made most of his money through his writings and academic career, as his father's 1876 probate record lists his estate as "under £3000", that sum being equal to just under £364,000 in 2021). The image conjured by "sumptuous" would seem to me to give the impression of being raised in very considerably opulent mansions, with endless parkland, teams of servants, coaches and horses, etc; does the cited source indicate any of this? Nothing in particular in Sir Charles Oman's article indicates a massively extravagant lifestyle. I appreciate this is no doubt simply a matter of personal view, but the word, as I say, seems to me to sit so conspicuously in the sentence as to warrant some attention. If some/ any sources reviewing the book directly use the word "sumptuous", I can't argue the point, of course, although it occurs to one to wonder precisely what THEIR motivation would have been in using it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.109.201.111 (talk) 16:03, 5 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
Please stop belly-aching about "sumptuous". Choose a word you prefer and add other info you find relevant, with references. Please don't write essays on a Talk page. People lack time to read them. Bmcln1 (talk) 20:42, 5 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
Jesus Christ, as if further evidence were required, Wikipedia editors are truly insufferably arrogant sods. "Belly-aching"... so much for your beloved AGF. I don't particularly care what people do or do not lack time to read. Do what the hell you like, as is your evident habit, you ill-mannered boor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.109.201.111 (talk) 22:06, 5 December 2021 (UTC)Reply