glory

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED seems not to recognize the cynical sense of "glory," i.e., "extraordinary publicity; shocking notoriety," as is now so often implied by the cliche' "go out in a blaze of glory."

  The cliche' appears as early as 1868, though in a perfectly honorable application.  The cynical (and perhaps originally ironical) usage seems to be a 20th C. innovation.

  JL




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