As common as the CARTWAY

Insights

Ubiquity and Ordinariness

The proverb signifies that a quality, behavior, or object is completely ordinary, mundane, and devoid of any special or unique characteristics. It is taken for granted due to its constant presence.

Lack of Exclusivity

A cartway is open to all, implying a lack of exclusivity, privacy, or refinement. This can be used to describe something that is available to everyone without distinction, sometimes suggesting it is of low value or vulgar.

Moral Deprecation

As suggested by the 1493 quotation, the proverb can carry a moral judgment. To be 'as common as the cartway' can imply promiscuity or a low moral character, accessible to anyone without discretion or standards.

Historical Infrastructure as Symbol

The cartway was a central feature of medieval and early modern life, a shared public space essential for trade and travel. Its inclusion in a proverb highlights how everyday infrastructure shaped the collective imagination, serving as a universally understood symbol for ubiquity long before modern mass culture.

Social Hierarchy and Value

In a socially stratified world, to be 'common' was to lack distinction or elite status. The proverb subtly reinforces a hierarchical worldview, where value is tied to exclusivity and rarity, and what is accessible to all—like the cartway—is implicitly devalued.

Psychology of Scarcity

The proverb taps into the psychological tendency to equate rarity with value. What is 'as common as the cartway' is not only ubiquitous but also, by implication, uninteresting, unrefined, or even contemptible. It reflects a cognitive bias where widespread availability diminishes perceived worth.

Cultural Parallels

The cross-reference to 'As common as a barber's chair' and 'As common as the highway' demonstrates a pattern of using public, functional objects and spaces as metaphors for commonness, often with a negative or pejorative connotation, as seen in the 1493 citation linking 'wickednesses' to the cartway.

Rhetorical Devices

Simile

The proverb is a simile, using a direct comparison ('as...as') to make an abstract quality (commonness) concrete and immediately understandable through a familiar image.

Imagery

The 'cartway' evokes a strong sensory image of a well-trodden, dusty, public road, effectively grounding the abstract idea of commonness in a tangible, everyday experience.

Symbolism

The cartway functions as a symbol for concepts like public access, lack of distinction, and the mundane. Its meaning extends beyond the literal road to represent a social or moral state.