"Garbage time of history"
Language Log 2024-07-31
Economics buzzword. From the Wall Street Journal's China newsletter:
lìshǐ de lèsè shíjiān 历史的垃圾时间 ("garbage time of history")
This expression reminded me of what I knew as the "garbage bin of history":
The "ash heap of history", also called "dustbin of history" or "garbage heap of history" or "landfill of history", is a figurative speech about people, events, artifacts, and ideologies. It is used about people that are forgotten or things that will be forgotten in history.
Ronald Reagan used this speech as an example and the Soviet Union, Leninism, and Marxism will eventually fall and be forgotten.
Leon Trotsky once famously used the phrase "dustbin of history" referring to when the Mensheviks walked out of a meeting during the Russian Revolution in 1917.
I'm surprised "rubbish" doesn't figure in any of these formulations.
Selected readings
- "HouseHold GarBage" (12/6/19)
- "Quadrilingual Garbage" (8/5/10)
- "Pernicious garbage" (118/15)
- "Poisonous & Evil Rubbish" (427/21)
- "Academic rubbish" (7/13/19)
[Thanks to Mark Metcalf]