Abra Staffin-Wiebe (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
abracanabra) wrote2002-10-30 10:38 am
abracanabra) wrote2002-10-30 10:38 am
Words: third place
third place (THURD plays; TH as in thin) n.
A place other than home or work where a person can go to relax and
feel part of the community.
--third-place adj.
Example Citation
---------------------------------
There's no place like third place.
I'm not talking about winning and losing here, or races or sports or
politics, but something far more important: the simple art of living
your life in the real world. In that world, as someone has pointed
out, all communities -- and therefore all members of communities --
need a "third place." It's not your home. It's not where you work.
Those are the first two places. No, it's the place where you go to,
um, be.
--Stephen Hunter, "Shear Gladness," The Washington Post, September
13, 2002
See Also
---------------------------------
privatopia:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/privatopia.asp
third wardrobe:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/thirdwardrobe.asp
third sector:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/thirdsector.asp
yuppie slum:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/yuppieslum.asp
Backgrounder
---------------------------------
The term "third place" was invented by sociologist Ray Oldenburg and
first appeared in his 1990 book _The Great Good Place_, a celebration
of the places where people can regularly go to take it easy and
commune with friends, neighbors, and just whoever shows up. The
subtitle says it all: "Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty
Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts and How They Get You Through
the Day."
The concept struck a chord and the book became surprisingly popular.
Many businesses and organizations redesigned themselves to encourage
people to hang out. Some, to make sure you didn't miss the point,
even incorporated "third place" in their names. We now have, for
example, the Third Place Coffeehouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, and
the Third Place Bookstore in Lake Forest, Washington. Oldenburg even
released a second book earlier this year: _Celebrating the Third
Place: Inspiring Stories About the "Great Good Places" at the Heart
of Our Communities_.
Earliest Citation
---------------------------------
"All great societies provide informal meeting places, like the Forum
in ancient Rome or a contemporary English pub," explained Oldenburg,
a faculty member at West Florida State University. "But since World
War II, America has ceased doing so. The neighborhood tavern hasn't
followed the middle class out to the suburbs...Accordingly, for eight
years, Oldenburg devoted himself to gathering the legend and lore of
America's last remaining neighborhood taverns, ma-and-pa grocery
stores and other examples of what he calls "Third Places." The term
derives from Oldenburg's gloss on a Freudian concept.
Sigmund Freud held that emotional well-being depends upon having
someone to love and work to do. Oldenburg argues that the great
psychoanalyst made his mental-health list one item too short. Besides
a mate and a job, Oldenburg said, we need a dependable place of
refuge where, for a few minutes a day, we can escape the demands of
family and bosses.
In that kind of psychological Eden, an easy-going conviviality allows
us to be temporarily amnesic to our woes and shortcomings.
Oldenburg is convinced that many problems of contemporary society --
alienation in the workplace, soaring divorce rates, etc. -- trace to
America's declining supply of such Third Places.
--Ron Grossman, "Hangouts," Chicago Tribune, February 4,
1990
Words About Words
---------------------------------
Whatever thou hast to say, be it more or less, forget not to utter it
in a low soft tone of voice. Silence, and whatever approaches it,
weaves dreams of midnight secrecy into the brain.
--Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist, _The Life and Opninions of
Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_, 1761
Miscellanea
---------------------------------
The WordSpy mailing list is available in an HTML version that bears
an uncanny resemblance to the pages on the Word Spy Web site (see the
address below). If you'd like to try it out, send a note to
listmanager@logophilia.com and include only the command "html
wordspy" (without the quotation marks) in the Subject line.
For more Word Spy words, see the Word Spy Archives:
http://www.wordspy.com/
A place other than home or work where a person can go to relax and
feel part of the community.
--third-place adj.
Example Citation
---------------------------------
There's no place like third place.
I'm not talking about winning and losing here, or races or sports or
politics, but something far more important: the simple art of living
your life in the real world. In that world, as someone has pointed
out, all communities -- and therefore all members of communities --
need a "third place." It's not your home. It's not where you work.
Those are the first two places. No, it's the place where you go to,
um, be.
--Stephen Hunter, "Shear Gladness," The Washington Post, September
13, 2002
See Also
---------------------------------
privatopia:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/privatopia.asp
third wardrobe:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/thirdwardrobe.asp
third sector:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/thirdsector.asp
yuppie slum:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/yuppieslum.asp
Backgrounder
---------------------------------
The term "third place" was invented by sociologist Ray Oldenburg and
first appeared in his 1990 book _The Great Good Place_, a celebration
of the places where people can regularly go to take it easy and
commune with friends, neighbors, and just whoever shows up. The
subtitle says it all: "Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty
Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts and How They Get You Through
the Day."
The concept struck a chord and the book became surprisingly popular.
Many businesses and organizations redesigned themselves to encourage
people to hang out. Some, to make sure you didn't miss the point,
even incorporated "third place" in their names. We now have, for
example, the Third Place Coffeehouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, and
the Third Place Bookstore in Lake Forest, Washington. Oldenburg even
released a second book earlier this year: _Celebrating the Third
Place: Inspiring Stories About the "Great Good Places" at the Heart
of Our Communities_.
Earliest Citation
---------------------------------
"All great societies provide informal meeting places, like the Forum
in ancient Rome or a contemporary English pub," explained Oldenburg,
a faculty member at West Florida State University. "But since World
War II, America has ceased doing so. The neighborhood tavern hasn't
followed the middle class out to the suburbs...Accordingly, for eight
years, Oldenburg devoted himself to gathering the legend and lore of
America's last remaining neighborhood taverns, ma-and-pa grocery
stores and other examples of what he calls "Third Places." The term
derives from Oldenburg's gloss on a Freudian concept.
Sigmund Freud held that emotional well-being depends upon having
someone to love and work to do. Oldenburg argues that the great
psychoanalyst made his mental-health list one item too short. Besides
a mate and a job, Oldenburg said, we need a dependable place of
refuge where, for a few minutes a day, we can escape the demands of
family and bosses.
In that kind of psychological Eden, an easy-going conviviality allows
us to be temporarily amnesic to our woes and shortcomings.
Oldenburg is convinced that many problems of contemporary society --
alienation in the workplace, soaring divorce rates, etc. -- trace to
America's declining supply of such Third Places.
--Ron Grossman, "Hangouts," Chicago Tribune, February 4,
1990
Words About Words
---------------------------------
Whatever thou hast to say, be it more or less, forget not to utter it
in a low soft tone of voice. Silence, and whatever approaches it,
weaves dreams of midnight secrecy into the brain.
--Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist, _The Life and Opninions of
Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_, 1761
Miscellanea
---------------------------------
The WordSpy mailing list is available in an HTML version that bears
an uncanny resemblance to the pages on the Word Spy Web site (see the
address below). If you'd like to try it out, send a note to
listmanager@logophilia.com and include only the command "html
wordspy" (without the quotation marks) in the Subject line.
For more Word Spy words, see the Word Spy Archives:
http://www.wordspy.com/
no subject
no subject
Re:
I should acquire one post-haste.