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placemen

Historical Office
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Men who held government posts, often because of patronage rather than merit.

Detailed Definition
A placeman was a person appointed to an office or position, especially one gained through political favor. In eighteenth-century satire, the term often implies corruption or dependence on patronage, which suits the poem’s criticism of public life.
Example
Example in poetry:
In eighteenth-century political satire, placemen were officeholders dependent on royal or ministerial patronage; Pope’s and Swift’s era often treated placemen as symbols of corruption rather than public service; “Placemen mocking subjects loyal” turns a political title into an accusation of contempt for ordinary citizens; A contemporary parallel might be a poem criticizing officials who protect donors while neglecting constituents
Additional Notes
The word "Placemen" is a historical political term that modern readers may not recognize from the line.; Found in the poem, January, 1795 by Mary Robinson
Also Known As
appointees cronies sycophants
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