Ignorant - is the word pejorative?

Question

He is ignorant of what happend twenty years ago yesterday.

He does not know what happened twenty years ago yesterday.

Would you say the first sentence is a more pejorative remark than the second one, implying that he doesn't know what he should?

Philip · Accepted Answer

Historically, the word has no negative meaning riding with it, necessarily. Current usage is a differenct case completely; it usually carries a negative feeling.

To ease the negativity, one might say something like, "as intelligient as she is, she was totally ignorant of the dangers she was about to encounter".

Christanford · Answer

Thanks. I will write down your great example in my notebook!

MrPernickety · Answer

Philip
To ease the negativity, one might say something like, "as intelligient as she is, she was totally ignorant of the dangers she was about to encounter".

Hi, Philip

Can I put it this way?

For all her intelligence, she was totally ignorant of the dangers she was about to encounter

Thanks !

Delmobile · Answer

I would add that saying someone is ignorant about a particular subject is usually not perjorative, but using "ignorant" alone usually is.

I cannot believe this county has such an ignorant man as the head of the school system. (perjorative)

Coming from New York City, the new manager was ignorant about agricultural methods and farm life in general. (Even without the addition of something like "However, he was a financial genius," this sentence is more a neutral statement about the manager's expertise than a criticism of his intelligence.

Avangi · Answer

ChristanfordHe is ignorant of what happend twenty years ago yesterday.

He does not know what happened twenty years ago yesterday.

Would you say the first sentence is a more pejorative remark than the second one, implying that he doesn't know what he should?I would not. No native speaker with a proper education would attach any fault to this person based on either sentence. To do so would be ignorant!

Some people may feel that "to be ignorant of X" is to have deliberately ignored X, or to have been negligent in pursuing some responsibility. As Philip has said, this is not justified. It's not what the word means.

Philip · Answer

Avangi
ChristanfordSome people may feel that "to be ignorant of X" is to have deliberately ignored X, or to have been negligent in pursuing some responsibility. As Philip has said, this is not justified. It's not what the word means.

The French is quite interesting.
J'ignore = I don't know (nothing negative about it)

Je feins ignorer = I ignore (pretend to know nothing)

Avangi · Answer

ChristanfordHe is ignorant of what happend twenty years ago yesterday.

He does not know what happened twenty years ago yesterday.

Would you say the first sentence is a more pejorative remark than the second one, implying that he doesn't know what he should?
Delmobile Coming from New York City, the new manager was ignorant about agricultural methods and farm life in general.
I know I'm taking stuff out of context here, but Del's example might bring up a grey area.

The OP's two examples are clearly neutral, because they give absolutely no indication that the subject "he" would or should have any reason to know anything about the incident in question.

On the other hand, Del's example is about the new manager. Although she doesn't say what he's expected to manage, she seems to open the possibility that the sentence refers to a deficiency in his qualifications.

We AmE guys have been exposed of late to an incredible harrangue about the qualifications of presidential appointees / nominees, and of course it's all intentionally pejorative. (This always happens when the party in power has changed.)

As Christanford's post points out, a statement may be pejorative because of its implication, regardless of whether the person involved is actually at fault.

Delmobile · Answer

That's an interesting point, Avangi, and I think "ignorant" is one of those words that gets used in a supposedly neutral fashion - after all, as you pointed out, the word itself is not perjorative - while the overall statement is meant to be negative. An extra bit of viciousness is added since "ignorant" (or "igrent" as they say in my neck of the woods) is so often incorrectly used to mean "unintelligent."

Ignorant - is the word pejorative?

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