I would like to know what the phrase "less than ness" means.
Is ness a reference to Loch or to Eliot?
Usage examples:
"Contrary to machine-gun-saturated myth, the mayhem (if not the corruption) was mostly confined to a few centers, and although Prohibition did clog up the justice system, enforcement, mercifully, usually tended to be less than Ness." http://www.temple.edu/tempress/authors/1684_review3.pdf
"to be at your best and still believe that you are no better or more important than any other is true humility. it also empowers those around you by acknowledging that they are as important and as good as your best self. unfortunately, cultural consciousness traps us in a mentality of less-than-ness. if you are something that i admire, than i am less than you. we cannot admire each other, without denigrating ourselves. the opposite is true as well, that we cannot admire ourselves without denigrating each other." http://conversationsamongfriends.blogspot.com/
"Abundance will flow for those who live in the truth of who they are. Be grateful for even the smallest of gifts and that feeling will transcend any feelings of lack or 'less-than-ness'."
"If the goal is to get a random ordering, then randomly chosen less-than-ness does seem like an appropriate sense."
http://www.interactivecode.com/googles-summer-code-17/go-fish-game-lisp-33000-5/
Thank you very much for your comments.
Roberto
It's hard to parse, but "less-than-ness" means "the quality of feeling less than someone or something else." The rhyme makes it more difficult to parse, but it might have been coined as "less-than-hood" or the "state of less-than" and have the same meaning. You might say someone who is feeling "less-than-ness" feels diminished, or small, or inconsequential, or insufficient.
You'll often find it used in discussions of Black culture, such as here:
Thank you, sir.
Roberto