Fwd: "culturgen, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:  <oedwotd at oup.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 7:30 PM
Subject: "culturgen, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
To: OEDWOTD-AMER-L at webber.uk.hub.oup.com


OED Online Word of the Day

The March 2014 quarterly update is now available. New words and
meanings have been added across the dictionary, including bestie,
bookaholic, and beat boxer. Find out more...

________________________________

Your word for today is: culturgen, n.

culturgen, n.
[‘ In the terminology of C. J. Lumsden and E. O. Wilson: an element of
behaviour or cultural artefact whose repetition or reproduction is
transmissible from one generation to another and may be subject to a
selective process; a cultural trait considered as a theoretical unit
of cultural evolution (and thus analogous to a gene).’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈkʌltʃədʒ(ə)n/,  U.S. /ˈkəltʃərdʒ(ə)n/
Etymology: <  culture n. + -gen comb. form.
 Biol. and Sociol.
  In the terminology of C. J. Lumsden and E. O. Wilson: an element of
behaviour or cultural artefact whose repetition or reproduction is
transmissible from one generation to another and may be subject to a
selective process; a cultural trait considered as a theoretical unit
of cultural evolution (and thus analogous to a gene).
Now largely displaced by the similar concept of the meme (meme n.).
1980  C. J. Lumsden  & E. O. Wilson in Proc. National Acad. Sci.
U.S.A. 77 4382/1 During socialization in a cultural species,
individuals transmit an array of behaviors and artifacts, which for
convenience will be termed ‘culturgens’.
1990 Man 25 219 The sum total of memes or culturgens current in a
population at a given time is said to comprise its ‘culture’, the
ideal analogue of the gene-pool.
1999 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 5 628/1 Lists of memes, culturgens
or instructions tend to be limitless ragbags of the most heterogeneous
items.

________________________________

Visit the OED's home page at http://www.oed.com
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l