You know, in fact, the Russian language is extremely rich in synonyms. You can replace the word “love” or “kindness”, “friendship” or “loyalty” in different ways. And sometimes these are not language replacements. But in the area of our attention are not such wonderful words. We explore one of the names of arrogance - aplomb. This is what we are talking about today.
Word moral vector
If a person is immersed in the language for a long time, he may not know the meaning of some words, but at the same time there is a magical context that prompts the correct interpretation. So it is with our today's hero. Many probably understand the meaning of the word “aplomb”, but at the same time they cannot say why the word is pronounced this way, and not otherwise, nor the dictionary meaning of it. This grief is not difficult to help. We will begin, as always, with history, and there we will understand the meaning.
The word was borrowed in the 19th century and initially did not express any moral condemnation. But over time, obeying tradition, aplomb acquired a negative meaning. And at first everything was cloudless, and the concept expressed "confidence in actions and resourcefulness in speech and in dealing with people." Then the Russian linguistic tradition pointed the word to its place and recalled that in our culture it is not customary to climb into the front ranks. That's how it changed the moral vector, but what to do? I really wanted to stay in our language. So aplomb is bad. However, this diagnosis is inconclusive.
Value
Before talking about the explanatory dictionary, let's discuss one special meaning and one French. In ballet, aplomb is understood to mean the ability to maintain balance in pirouette. And in French aplomb is a high appreciation of the tailor's skill, in other words, an impeccably sewn thing.
In the explanatory dictionary, the meaning of the object of study is greatly narrowed, but we must, as always, pay attention to our faithful companion. Therefore, we open Ozhegov’s book and read the following: “Excessive self-confidence in behavior, in speech.” Note that the root "self" here appears as something that dramatically changes the meaning. If we talk about past values, then aplomb is a positive quality, and now, today, it is negative. All “positivity” remained in ballet circles and in France itself.
Career, ambition, aplomb
What do the three nouns in the title have in common? Their dark past. Once upon a time, not so long ago, “career” and “ambition” were words that were not spoken of in decent society. The concept of "careerist" and now causes mixed feelings.
As for ambition, then the classic definition from the explanatory dictionary leaves no chance for the word: “Aggravated pride, arrogance”. But now language practice shows that “ambition” has a different, positive meaning. An ambitious person is someone who wants more: constantly evolving and looking for opportunities to reach a new level. It is difficult to say whether this is good or bad, just the language captures the obvious truth: modesty is not in fashion today, and therefore various semantic transformations are taking place with well-known words. This is all to the fact that the meaning of “aplomb” can also change. Perhaps the word will take on some positive meaning. But this is a matter of the future.