Tall poppy syndrome

Tall poppy syndrome is an informal term originating from Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s that refers to people with notable public success, who excessively promote their own achievements and opinions. [1] Intense scrutiny and criticism of such a person is termed as "Cutting down the tall poppy". A new alternative definition has been proposed in recent years. The new version seeks to change the focus, relabelling the concept as a term for those who criticize high achievers. [2] Despite using the word "syndrome", tall poppy syndrome is not recognised or regarded as a psychological condition in the DSM-5.

For the Leprous album, see Tall Poppy Syndrome (album).

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

In the World

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][3][4] It has been described as being the by-product of the Australian and New Zealand cultural value of egalitarianism.[1][5]

In Japan, a similar common expression is "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down".[6][7][8] 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.

In Chile, this expression is known as "chaquetear" ('pull the jacket').[9] In Scandinavia, this expression is known as Law of Jante. The Law of Jante comes with "rules" such as "you're not to think you are anything special".

Etymology

The concept originates from accounts in Herodotus' Histories (Book 5, 92f), Aristotle's Politics (1284a) and Livy's Ab urbe condita libri (Book I, ch.54),[10] with reversed roles, referring to Periander's advice to Thrasybulus of Miletus via a herald.

The specific reference to poppies occurs in Livy's account of the tyrannical Roman king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. He is said to have received a messenger from his son Sextus Tarquinius asking what he should do next in Gabii, since he had become all-powerful there. Rather than answering the messenger verbally, Tarquin went into his garden, took a stick and symbolically swept it across his garden, thus cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies that were growing there. The messenger, tired of waiting for an answer, returned to Gabii and told Sextus what he had seen. Sextus realised that his father wished him to put to death all of the most eminent people of Gabii, which he then did.[11]

See also

References
  1. Peeters, Bert (2004). "Tall poppies and egalitarianism in Australian discourse: From key word to cultural value". English World-Wide. 25 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1075/eww.25.1.02pee.
  2. Billan, Rumeet (31 December 2018). "The Tallest Poppy TM". Women of Influence. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  3. Kennedy, Jeffrey (2007). "Leadership and Culture in New Zealand". In Chhokar, Jagdeep; Brodbeck, Felix; House, Robert (eds.). Culture and Leadership Across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-Depth Studies of 25 Societies. United States: Psychology Press. p. 399. ISBN 978-0-8058-5997-3.
  4. Holmes, Janet; Marra, Meredith; Lazzaro-Salazar, Mariana (28 March 2017). "Negotiating the tall poppy syndrome in New Zealand workplaces: women leaders managing the challenge". Gender and Language. 11 (1): 1–29. doi:10.1558/genl.31236. ISSN 1747-633X.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down". The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-953953-6.
  8. "WWWJDIC: Word Display".
  9. "chaquetear". Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  10. Rackham, H. (1944). Aristotle in 23 Volumes. Vol. 21. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  11. Livius, Titus. "The Earliest Legends: 1.54". The History of Rome, Vol. I. University of Virginia Library: Electronic Text Center.

Further reading
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