pyrrhic victory

High school education, Meat? I learned what a Pyrrhic victory was in junior-year high school English. But I see your point.

 

You must have went to one of dem der fancy schools.

 

As a SJC neophyte (newbie for you 8th graders) this has been my favorite thread. It took several pages to get to the C word that should be dominating the discussion. Context is everything. The criticism of Pat Forde's use of the phrase may be valid, but when I read it, "pyrrhic" meant "empty" to me.

 

If I'm editing, and someone else uses Pyrrhic? Hey, your name's on it, knock yourself out.

If I'm writing? Never in a billion years. I've got better things to do than engage in intellectual masturbation.

 

I nearly masturbated (intellectually) all over a page I designed back in the day. We covered a basketball team that had a sharp-shooting guard whose last name was Klein. I so wanted to run this hammer over the story:

Eine Klein Stringmusik

Of course, an editor shot me down quicker than I could explain it, and I'm glad he did. I am sure I would have regretted it, not to mention the mail I would have received from people telling me my German is flawed. But some day I'd love to live in a world that has a publication and a readership where I could get away with that head. ;D


Oh, and I don't have a problem with the proper use of Pyrrhic victory.

 

I can't imagine any publication allowing you to get away with that hed, JD. But it is a fucking classic!

 

Outstanding. I got it immediately.

George Vecsey used the word "mellifluous" in the lede of a World Series column about Ernie Harwell and that sent me scrambling for a dictionary. Would that I could work for a readership who understood it and with writers who could pull it off.

 

Absolutely, completely, disagree. Like reading stuff where I have to look words up. Like learning. There's a difference between using $14 words to convey your point and 'talking down.'

You never learn something in AP copy. That's why nobody ever gets out of the second paragraph of AP copy.

 

Doesn't matter if your readers understand it or not.
It's a freaking cliche.
It's got to go.
Now.

 

When I first read the initial post, I wasn't sure what a "pyrrhic victory" was, but I had a vague idea.

So I looked it up, and now I know for sure, which is kinda cool. But hey...I'm just an average guy who subscribes to a couple newspapers and reads a whole bunch more online. What do I know?

 

Just my 2 cents. I saw this in today's Times of London story about the England-Spain soccer friendly.

"Even for Spain, victory was regarded as pyrrhic in some quarters. After a calamitous start to their Euro 2008 campaign, some of the country’s media descended on Manchester praying for a defeat that would end the reign of Luis Aragonés, their coach."

I don't know if this has been brought up before, but if you ever check out the Times of London, or other top, non-tabloid papers from England, there is no fear of big words. I know there are societal differences, but the style of writing is noticeable.

Also, I often read the Times' soccer coverage to pick up new words and phrases. I don't do that with USA Today.

 

Only because someone else revived this, I just want to add that I never in my life used the term 'pyrrhic victory' until this thread, and then I used it three times in one conversation with my sister, regarding the best way to deal with our mother.

She still has no idea what I meant, but at least she thinks I'm really smart.