glory

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: ronbutters at AOL.COM

Date:         Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:30:12
To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] glory


Does this ironic sense of "glory" exist apart from the cliche that JL cites here? If not, it seems to me that dictionaries should NOT mention it. And the ironic reading is usu. so clear from context that even listing the fixed phrase might should be given very low priority.
------Original Message------
From: Jonathan Lighter
Sender: American Dialect Society
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
ReplyTo: American Dialect Society
Sent: Oct 14, 2007 7:15 PM
Subject: [ADS-L] glory

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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Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org