Where did the expression filthy rich come from? What does filthy mean in slang? What's another word for filthy rich? How can I get filthy rich?
Isn't that a quaint set of questions.
The combination of "filthy" and "rich" cannot be complimentary. It would have to mean getting rich by dishonourable means or worse. To be covered in filth, or to be "stinking". These are not good adjectives.
The word lucre, in and around the 1400’s meant money or riches, but pointed to it negatively. The filthy part in this expression points out to something that has been done unduly. Foul or filthy lucre eventually changed to ‘filthy rich’.
In the 1900’s the phrase became more popular than it was originally. In 1929, an Ohio newspaper used the phrase to show the get rich quick attitudes that prevailed back then.
Today filthy rich is no longer used in just a negative way, it could be referring to the magnitude of richness too. In fact, it isn't used much except as the name of a Fox series that was cancelled after a single season. Here's the quote from the last episode: "Being rich makes you filthy, Margaret - and I was very rich." Its second occurrence since 2020 is a documentary: "Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich." Between the two, they hold court on the Google retrievals for more than 10 pages. Only Esquire has a headline from 2020: "Jeff Bezos now worth US$200 billion, becomes filthiest of the filthy rich."
If filthy rich got overrun as a headline expression, what is the expression now? There is an unending call to do things that take a lot of money so I would expect to find lots of articles on excessive spending by the far-too-weathly - things like trips to space. So the headlines? We've moved on to mega-rich, super rich, and uber rich. Filthy rich still shows up in the body of the articles.
And what about you? You can go to the Times of India HERE to find out "How Rich are You?" However, you will find out where your position is in the households of India. It would be very fun if it give categories such as well-off, rich, really rich, Jeff Bezos rich. That would be a good game.
Here's Lilycrest Gardens today, and two finalists in the Betterphoto contest for July.
The sun is rising on a snow-covered garden, and I find out that for the weatherman, spring starts on March 1st. There are different definitions of spring. Meteorological spring references a standardized split up of the seasons into four, 3-month periods. Astronomical seasons are based on the solstices and equinoxes that occur around the year.
Today's pictures are the entries in the Betterphoto contest that placed for the month of January. The first is the second place winner in the Details and Macro category. The other two are Finalists.
