[Ads-l] glory

[Laurence Horn]

So “glory” *doesn’t* mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’?


> On Jun 8, 2021, at 1:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> '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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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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