Low-life

For the album by New Order, see Low-Life. For other uses, see Low Life (disambiguation).

Low-life (plural: low-lifes) (or lowlife) is a term for a person who is considered morally unacceptable by their community. Examples of people typically referred to as low-life include aggressive panhandlers, bullies, criminals, drug dealers, freeloaders, hobos, gangsters, sex offenders, pimps, scammers, and thieves.

Often, the term is used as an indication of disapproval of antisocial or self-destructive behaviors, usually bearing a connotation of contempt and derision. This usage of the word dates to 1911.[1] The long-term origins of the ideas behind this in the Western world trace back to ancient times with the distinction of high culture associated with aristocracy at the top of the social hierarchy who were regarded in aristocrat-dominated society as compared with low culture associated with commoners at the bottom of the social hierarchy that included many impoverished people among them.

In common usage, the term can also be used for people associated with adhering to low culture, or used to describe a crass, overly casual person who exhibits a lack of grace and refinement. In this sense, individuals do not necessarily need to be criminally destructive or hold ethically questionable views to qualify for the term.

Similar terms used for the same type of person include the Australian/New Zealand term feral.[2]

  1. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  2. ^ Examples of this usage can be found in such articles as Braunias, S.,. "The rise of anti-Jacinda Ardern ferals, fake news and its advocates", (New Zealand Herald, 16 July 2022, retrieved 27 September 2022) and "Furthermore, by refusing to condemn her Transport Minister for calling the protesters a "river of filth", or the Speaker for describing them as "the biggest collection of ferals that I've seen", Jacinda Ardern had clearly learned nothing from the 2016 US Presidential Primary, when Hillary Clinton alienated voters with her conceited description of grassroot Americans as "deplorables".", in Newman, M., "New Zealand turns sinister", (New Zealand Centre for Political Research, 3 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.)