Tall poppy syndrome

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Tarquinius Superbus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, depicting the king sweeping the tallest heads from a patch of poppies

In Australia and New Zealand, tall poppy syndrome refers to successful people being criticised. This occurs when their peers believe they are too successful, or are bragging about their success.[1][2] Intense scrutiny and criticism of such a person is termed as "cutting down the tall poppy".[3]

Australia and New Zealand

In Australia and New Zealand, "cutting down the tall poppy" is sometimes used by business entrepreneurs to describe those who deliberately criticise other people for their success and achievements.[1][4][5] It has been described as being the by-product of the Australian and New Zealand cultural value of egalitarianism.[1][6]

Related phenomena

In Japan, a similar common expression is "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down".[7][8][9] In the Netherlands, this expression is "don't put your head above ground level" (boven het maaiveld uitsteken), with the cultural phenomenon being named maaiveldcultuur.[citation needed]

In Chile, this expression is known as chaquetear ('pull the jacket').[10] In Scandinavia, this expression is known as the Law of Jante. The Law of Jante originates from a 1933 novel by Aksel Sandemose. It contains rules and stipulations such as "you're not to think you are anything special" and "perhaps you don't think we know a few things about you?".[11][12]

See also

References

  1. ^ .
  2. . Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  3. ^ Billan, Rumeet (31 December 2018). "The Tallest Poppy TM". Women of Influence. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  4. .
  5. .
  6. ^ Levine, Stephen (20 June 2012). "Political values - Political values and the 'Kiwi' way of life". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  7. ^ ことわざを知る辞典,デジタル大辞泉. "出る杭は打たれるとは". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  8. .
  9. ^ "WWWJDIC: Word Display".
  10. ^ "chaquetear". Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  11. S2CID 149143718
    .
  12. ^ Sandemose, Aksel (1966). En flyktning krysser sitt spor (in Norwegian). Aschehoug.

Further reading

External links