Posted on 06/23/2010 9:03:29 AM PDT by Big Bureaucracy
3. A man who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, fortitude, or greatness of soul, in any course of action, or in connexion with any pursuit, work, or enterprise; a man admired and venerated for his achievements and noble qualities. [emphasis added]Game over, friend.
The officials courageously and heroically decided not to make up a phantom call to disallow the goal, allowing the USA to celebrate its victory!
Luckily it’s not a very deep hole.
So by scoring that goal, was he exhibiting extraordinary bravery, firmness, fortitude or greatness of soul?
I know what his achievement was, but what exactly were his noble qualities?
And is he admired and venerated for them?
Game over is right.
I guess I have higher standards.
The "or" in the list is your signal that you can take your pick (otherwise, if the list was inclusive, "and" would be used).
"in connexion with any pursuit" fits
I guess I have higher standards.
And no dictionary, apparently.
The goal was a fitting cap to his dedication, perseverance, and work ethic. He's played that way all along, and it paid off hugely by ensuring he was in the right place at the right time to capitalize.
I'd have no problem holding Donovan up as a shining example of teamwork, dedication, focus, and persistence.
3. A man who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, fortitude, or greatness of soul, in any course of action, or in connexion with any pursuit, work, or enterprise; a man admired and venerated for his achievements and noble qualities.Sentence reworded to remove some of the hyperbole:
Does tossing a shutout as goalie constitute "extraordinary bravery, firmness, fortitude, or greatness of soul" or is it simply successfully executing the job of goalie in a soccer match? Does the celebration and joy of your team's victory in a soccer match rise to the level of admiration and veneration of majestic achievements and noble qualities? And even if you want to ascribe such lofty achievement on what could realistically be described as simply managing to avoid a failure at one's position, the additional words in the phrase "a true American hero" make the comment laughable. It is tiresome that so many phrases and words have been dumbed down that a modest success must be lauded as heroic, and mediocrity becomes praised as excellence. Great Game? Yes! Hero? Only to those whose lives are so devoid of meaning that a first round soccer victory is extraordinarily noble!
So it takes “extraordinary firmness” or “extraordinary fortitude” for a professional soccer player to score a goal?
“in connexion with any pursuit”...
Using your “logic”, swapping out a motherboard with “extraordinary fortitude” would qualify someone as a hero.
As I said, I guess I have higher standards.
What is a "hero" except someone to uphold as an example to others?
Yes, he is a great role model.
That doesn’t make him a hero.
Even from the dictionary definition provided, "someone to uphold as an example to others" doesn't quite rise to the standard for "hero". In the Wonderful World of Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit and the others deem Piglet a hero for selflessly giving up his house to Owl after Owl's tree house had been blown over by the wind on the very blustery day. He was an example of generosity and selflessness, but only an animated stuffed animal would be so overwhelmed as to call it "heroic".
Yes, it is clear that you have higher (more restrictive) standards. And that’s fine. You don’t need my approval anyway. You should probably take it up with the writer, who used the word correctly, if you feel that strongly about it.
Yes, if someone swapped out the motherboard with "fortitude." Words mean things. Sorry you don't understand English.
Asked and answered. The definitions exist . . . I didn’t write them. You can’t pick and choose which of them, and which portions of them, to discard because you find them inconvenient.
Generally speaking, one should hold good goalkeepers as an example to others versus the bad ones.
No, but you can object to the dumbing down of terminology. As for the definitions, which I already understood that you didn't write, if you want to insist that the definition (or the portion thereof that you cited) applies to this goalie as used by the hyperbolic author of the story in question, then you must posit that the meaning of "extraordinary bravery, firmness, fortitude, or greatness of soul" includes the simple act of "playing the goalie position without gloves" or you must dumb down the meaning of "admired and venerated for his achievements and noble qualities" to include anybody that is celebrated by fans for happening to win an athletic contest. Such hyperbole is just plain silly, and that concept was beautifully summarized in the Disney/Pixar movie "The Incredibles" when little Dax said "if everybody is super then nobody is."
Agreed, but just being a worthy example to others makes one a role model but not necessarily a hero.
Yes, words mean things.
You obviously still haven’t figured out “hyperbole”...
Nah, the ref just sucked. He had a bad yellow card call against the Algerians too.
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