[Ads-l] glory

[Jonathan Lighter]

'Great satisfaction in one's own achievements.'  Not in OED, not quite in
MW ( "3a a state of great gratification or exaltation //
When she's acting she's in her glory").

1992 Russell Duncan, ed. _Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters
of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw_  (Athens: U. of Ga. Press) 332: Shaw spent
the next - and last - month of his life trying to put Darien behind him and
rekindle the glory and pride he felt while in the 2nd Massachusetts.

*Glory* historically means general and lasting acclaim for great
achievements benefiting the community.

But my impression - for decades - has been that in modern use, it usually
means what Duncan clearly means.

When people say, "There's no glory in war," they seem to me to be referring
to some inner, transformational feeling of satisfaction rather than mere
national recognition by others. Even Medal of Honor winners - recipients of
glory in the traditional sense - have said there isn't any in war.

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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