What the heck?
So, I have never heard of this saying before. Now, I have seen it twice within a month.
I am reading a great free book that I got for my Kindle. It is an old book that is on public domain. It is a book on nineteenth century etiquette 'cause I want to act like a real lady someday. Suddenly I come across this...
"The
exaltation of the whole scene favours its development, and it can hardly be
wondered at if both parties leave judgment out in the cold while enjoying each
other's society, and possibly already pleasantly occupied in building 'castles in the air.' Whatever
may eventually come of it, the fair one is conscious for the nonce of being
unusually happy."[1]
The first was
from the book that I am reporting on for Pilgrim housing, A Little Commonwealth
by John Demos.
“William Bradford
writes of one group of settlers who came to Plymouth in 1623 that they ‘looked
for greater matters than they found or could attain unto, about building great
houses and such pleasant situations for them as themselves had fancied; as if
they would be great men and rich all of a sudden. But they proved castles in
the air’.”[2]
So, what the heck
does this mean? Is it a real building that God lives in? It is blatantly
understood by Demos’ line, but Routledge does not make it clear at all. Perhaps
he thought that everyone knew what that meant. Did everyone in the nineteenth
century understand this? There is even a song by Don Mclean called Castles
in the Air. (can be heard and seen on Youtube).
Dictionary.com
says:
Cultural Dictionary
castles in the air definition
Extravagant hopes and plans that never [will] be carried out: “I told him he should stop building castles in the air and train for a sensible profession.”[3]
And another great one from Wiktionary, this time it includes an origination date (of which you know I always like). It says:
Etymology
The
first term dates from the late 1500s. The variant, castles in Spain (or châteaux en Espagne), was
recorded in the Roman de la
Rose in the 13th century and
translated into English around 1365.
Verb
build castles in the air
1.
(idiomatic) To imagine visionary projects or schemes; to daydream; to have an idle fancy, a pipe dream or any plan, desire, or idea that is
unlikely to be realized. [4]
[1] George
Routledge, Routledge’s Manual of Etiquette. (London: George Routledge
and Sons, 1860), Kindle edition, Location 1822
[2] John Demos, A
Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. 3rd ed.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.), 27.
[3] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/castles+in+the+air?s=t
Posts
You must have lived a practical life :) I got this one as a child all the time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I have! It is wonderful to get out of it, then. :D
ReplyDelete