NON-ISM


Meaning of NON-ISM in English

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) (People and Society) A policy or lifestyle of avoiding all activities and substances (foods, drink, drugs, etc.) which might be harmful to one's mental or physical health; an extreme form of total abstention. Etymology: Formed by combining the prefix non- 'not' with the suffix -ism to make a word which does not, strictly speaking, contain a root (but perhaps this emphasizes the point: it is a non-word). History and Usage: The increasing preoccupation in the late eighties with health and fitness on the one hand, and with prevention as preferable to cure on the other, produced a feeling not infrequently expressed that it had become difficult to consume or do anything without worrying about its possibly deleterious effects. Non-ism is a name for the most extreme response to the wealth of information on preventive medicine; a person who practises it is a non-ist. The word was brought into the news by reports in 1990 of a Boston psychiatrist whose son had given up almost all pleasures; he seemed to typify a growing trend in US society. His son...is stuck in a limbo of non-ism...He gave up drinking, drugs and caffeine, meat, sugar, dairy and wheat products, and sex. He is depressed and lethargic. 'He's a pleasure anorexic,' said his father. New York Times 27 May 1990, p. 22 The rule...for the 1990s...is to define yourself through denial...This new creed of 'non-ism', as the academics are calling it, draws on the fashion for abstention from drink, tobacco, drugs...and all other contaminants. The Times 13 June 1990, p. 11

English colloquial dictionary, new words.      Английский разговорный словарь - новые слова.