--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There's this expression called…" description: "\"There's this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word called modern, which now no longer means anyth..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/twyla-tharp-1069_expression_there-s-this-expression-called-postmoder_2064876.jpg" --- # There's this expression called postmodernism, which is… ![“There's this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word called modern, which now no longer means anything.” quote by Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/twyla-tharp-1069_expression_there-s-this-expression-called-postmoder_2064876.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/twyla-tharp-1069_expression_there-s-this-expression-called-postmoder_2064876.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/twyla-tharp-1069_expression_there-s-this-expression-called-postmoder_2064876.jpg) > “There's this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word called modern, which now no longer means anything.” [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The statement critiques postmodernism for rendering the term “modern” meaningless, suggesting it undermines clear language and concepts. **In simple terms:** Postmodernism erodes the meaning of “modern”. Key Takeaway Be cautious of overly complex labels. Themes language philosophy culture modernity postmodernism Mood critical analytical Type philosophical skeptical When to use this quote - academic discourse - art criticism - media analysis - public debate Key Concepts semantic decay critical theory Questions to Reflect On - What value does the term “modern” hold today? - How can we preserve meaningful language? A Different Perspective Complex labels can obscure rather than clarify. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [Modernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism/) [Postmodernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/postmodernism/) [Silly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silly/) ## Related quotes > [I think being from Iran sharpened my eye as an art dealer. This is why, today, I think the true definition of so-called postmodernism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-shafrazi/i-think-being-from-iran-sharpened-my-eye-as-an-art-dealer-this-is-why/) [Tony Shafrazi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-shafrazi/) > [ “sometime around the turn of the seventeenth century there began what is often called the modern period, or modernity.\[1\] It lasted, roughly, until sometime… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heath-white/sometime-around-the-turn-of-the-seventeenth-century-there-began-what/) [Heath White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heath-white/) > [“What is called modern today, tomorrow will be history. What ever you allow to display, don't make of it a mystery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-saleh/what-is-called-modern-today-tomorrow-will-be-history-what-ever-you/) A. Saleh > [Art is the means by which we communicate what it feels like to be alive - in the past, that was mixed up with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-gormley/art-is-the-means-by-which-we-communicate-what-it-feels-like-to-be/) [Antony Gormley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-gormley/) > [Postmodernism does not help us understand good art. It encourages art that can be easily understood and throws in something catchy to cover the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-darby-bannard/postmodernism-does-not-help-us-understand-good-art-it-encourages-art/) [Walter Darby Bannard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-darby-bannard/) > [“Postmodernism’s collapse into indeterminacy is a significant weakness, yet its recognition of the implications of narratives, communities, embodiment, history, race, sex, and class make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-k-naugle/postmodernism-s-collapse-into-indeterminacy-is-a-significant-weakness/) David K. Naugle > [Postmodernism represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/postmodernism-represents-a-moment-of-suspension-before-the-batteries/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [“That is my second hypothesis: Postmodernism is a response to the crisis of faith of the academic far Left. Its epistemology justifies the leap…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/that-is-my-second-hypothesis-postmodernism-is-a-response-to-the/) [Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/) > [Postmodernism came nowhere close in quality to Modernism at its apogee, not least because that later style wholly lacked the social impetus that animated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/postmodernism-came-nowhere-close-in-quality-to-modernism-at-its/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) > [what exactly is postmodernism, except modernism without the anxiety?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/what-exactly-is-postmodernism-except-modernism-without-the-anxiety/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [Postmodernism - and is that term used much any more? - is simply a reiteration of the sophistic or the rhetorical worldview.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roochnik/postmodernism-and-is-that-term-used-much-any-more-is-simply-a/) [David Roochnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roochnik/) > [“May one plead, Your Honor, postmodernism as an involuntary condition?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/may-one-plead-your-honor-postmodernism-as-an-involuntary-condition/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [The postmodern reply to the modern consists of recognizing that the past, since it cannot really be destroyed, because its destruction leads to silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/the-postmodern-reply-to-the-modern-consists-of-recognizing-that-the/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [“Postmodernism has turned into this devil's vortex where no matter what you do, your neck will be turned and your face shoved into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-celio/postmodernism-has-turned-into-this-devil-s-vortex-where-no-matter/) [Brian Celio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-celio/) > [Altermodern is an in-progress redefinition of modernity in the era of globalisation, stressing the experience of wandering in time, space and mediums. The term…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-bourriaud/altermodern-is-an-in-progress-redefinition-of-modernity-in-the-era-of/) Nicolas Bourriaud ## More by Twyla Tharp > [“A lot of habitually creative people have preparation rituals linked to the setting in which they choose to start their day. By putting themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/a-lot-of-habitually-creative-people-have-preparation-rituals-linked/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I have learned over the years that you should never save for two meetings what you can accomplish in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-have-learned-over-the-years-that-you-should-never-save-for-two/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I always find that the best collaborations are when you work with people that know what they're doing, and you leave them alone to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-always-find-that-the-best-collaborations-are-when-you-work-with/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I don't mean this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I don't really think of pop art and serious art as being that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-don-t-mean-this-but-i-m-going-to-say-it-anyway-i-don-t-really-think/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [The art of these Fifties movies was in sustaining forever the moment before sex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/the-art-of-these-fifties-movies-was-in-sustaining-forever-the-moment/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [This is not a pleasant route for many young people to consider. You have to be either hopelessly passionate, or very stupid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/this-is-not-a-pleasant-route-for-many-young-people-to-consider-you/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I often say that in making dances I can make a world where I think things are done morally, done democratically, done honestly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-often-say-that-in-making-dances-i-can-make-a-world-where-i-think/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I had received my first establishment grants in response to applications filed the year before. To the pages of baffling forms I had simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-had-received-my-first-establishment-grants-in-response-to/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I find the aesthetics of the 20th century hopelessly barren.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-find-the-aesthetics-of-the-20th-century-hopelessly-barren/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I don't think that scheduling is uncreative. I think that structure is required for creativity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-don-t-think-that-scheduling-is-uncreative-i-think-that-structure-is/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [I have always felt one of the things dance should do - its business being so clearly physical - is challenge the culture's gender…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-have-always-felt-one-of-the-things-dance-should-do-its-business/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [There really is nothing I ever had access to that I didn't appreciate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/there-really-is-nothing-i-ever-had-access-to-that-i-didn-t-appreciate/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [Destiny, quite often, is a determined parent. Mozart was hardly some naive prodigy who sat down at the keyboard and, with God whispering in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/destiny-quite-often-is-a-determined-parent-mozart-was-hardly-some/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [When it all comes together, a creative life has the nourishing power we normally associate with food, love and faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/when-it-all-comes-together-a-creative-life-has-the-nourishing-power/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [Things change all the time, so why do people make such a philosophical to-do that things are constantly in transition?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/things-change-all-the-time-so-why-do-people-make-such-a-philosophical/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) [Explore all 298 Twyla Tharp quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) ## More Expression quotes > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [Instead of asking a girl how she feels, try looking through her recently listened to songs. The lyrics are the answer to all your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/instead-of-asking-a-girl-how-she-feels-try-looking-through-her/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/the-concept-of-humanity-is-an-especially-useful-ideological/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Our fashion for us, it's an expression; first of all of life, I put all of myself in my fashion. Sometimes it's good, sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefano-gabbana/our-fashion-for-us-it-s-an-expression-first-of-all-of-life-i-put-all/) [Stefano Gabbana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefano-gabbana/) > [We can see nothing whatever of the soul unless it is visible in the expression of the countenance; one might call the faces at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-c-lichtenberg/we-can-see-nothing-whatever-of-the-soul-unless-it-is-visible-in-the/) [Georg C. Lichtenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-c-lichtenberg/) > [Early experience shapes the structure and function of the brain. This reveals the fundamental way in which gene expression is determined by experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-j-siegel/early-experience-shapes-the-structure-and-function-of-the-brain-this/) [Daniel J. Siegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-j-siegel/) > [Singing has always seemed to me the most perfect means of expression. It is so spontaneous. And after singing, I think the violin. Since…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-o-keeffe/singing-has-always-seemed-to-me-the-most-perfect-means-of-expression/) [Georgia O'Keeffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-o-keeffe/) > [Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/every-genuine-expression-of-love-grows-out-of-a-consistent-and-total/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Nick looked vaguely homicidal, but that was sort of his default expression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-rees-brennan/nick-looked-vaguely-homicidal-but-that-was-sort-of-his-default/) [Sarah Rees Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-rees-brennan/) > [They are the gateway for our modern esthetic development, the prophets of the new time. They are most of all, the primitives of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsden-hartley/they-are-the-gateway-for-our-modern-esthetic-development-the-prophets/) [Marsden Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsden-hartley/) > [The mountain receives our expressions and becomes part of us; we imprint our memories upon it and trust it with out dearest divisions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-barcott/the-mountain-receives-our-expressions-and-becomes-part-of-us-we/) [Bruce Barcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-barcott/) > [In science, the most exciting expression isn’t ‘Eureka!’ It’s ‘Huh?’](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hawley/in-science-the-most-exciting-expression-isn-t-eureka-it-s-huh/) Michael Hawley > [A commitment to lifelong learning is a natural expression of the practice of living consciously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-branden/a-commitment-to-lifelong-learning-is-a-natural-expression-of-the/) [Nathaniel Branden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-branden/) [Browse all 5,024 Expression quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There's this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word called modern, which now no longer means anything.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Twyla Tharp" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/there-s-this-expression-called-postmodernism-which-is-kind-of-silly/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Expression" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/there-s-this-expression-called-postmodernism-which-is-kind-of-silly/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/twyla-tharp-1069_expression_there-s-this-expression-called-postmoder_2064876.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/twyla-tharp-1069_expression_there-s-this-expression-called-postmoder_2064876.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/twyla-tharp-1069_expression_there-s-this-expression-called-postmoder_2064876.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There's this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word…” — Twyla Tharp", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Twyla Tharp", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There's this expression called postmodernism, which...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/there-s-this-expression-called-postmodernism-which-is-kind-of-silly/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/there-s-this-expression-called-postmodernism-which-is-kind-of-silly/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```