Patrician

Patrician (as opposed to plebeian) is a meme often employed by anonymous users of the music discussion board 4chan. The term comes from the ancient Roman word for nobleman, and is frequently contrasted with the term 'plebeian', used overwhelmingly as a derogatory, which comes from the ancient Roman term for free citizens who were not patricians. The neoterism was allegedly coined by the tripfriend CLT, aka Cannabis Loving Tripfag.

It should be noted that patricians do not exist.

Meaning
The term as used on /mu/ is contentious; there is very little agreement over exactly who and what is 'patrician'. Several have argued that patrician denotes a certain attitude towards music and music listening, rather than particular artists/bands et al. According to CLT, "A patrician is a person who consciously approaches music and music evaluation with a reflective, analytic, and introspective mindset." , suggesting that someone can be a patrician regardless of what their tastes are - however some argue that certain albums, pieces, songs, etc. are patrician. This latter usage has lead to the creation of several 'patriciancore' charts, and debates on the subject of patriciancore.

Some have suggested contrary to prior claims, that 'patrician' is simply a word applied by some to music they like, (concomitant with the application of 'plebeian' to music they dislike). In order to contrast the word with 'good', 'excellent', etc, patrician in this sense defined as a negation of plebeian - that which is pedestrian, common, hackneyed, derivative, lowest common denominator, etc; by this implication patrician is no more than a simple word of praise claiming a certain culture and distinction.

Quotes
"Damn it feels good to be patrician

Fight a thread full of plebeians and beat em

A real patrician-ass listener never stoops to fallacies

'cause real patrician-ass listeners don't need em

A plebeian's always gotta scrobble

Showin' plebs how he's "Obscure" or he's "Eclectic"

But real patrician-ass listeners don't know their own scores

'cause real patrician-ass listeners never checked it

And the best band is Faust in the minds of patricians

'cause patrician-ass listeners eat carrots

Me's a meadow meal and the guess I get it and so on

Patricians know what music's deep, so they share it

And all I gotta say to you

Ignorant, insecure, incompetent rhetoricians

When we challenge your taste, what the fuck you gonna do?

Damn it feels good to be patrician."

- Symbolum Patricianum "The Patricians' Creed"