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Wednesday, February 22. 2017

QQQ

Alexander of Macedonia is known as Alexander the Great because he killed more people of more different kinds than anybody else of his time.


Will Cuppy 

Posted by Bird Dog in Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ) at 14:39 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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No, I think that was Genghis Khan or Stalin. What Alexander the Great did was incredible considering his age and what he had to work with. Not saying it was peaceful or that he didn't wage war but just that it was an incredible accomplishment.
#1 OneGuy on 2017-02-22 17:36 (Reply)
English and the languages that influence it tend to lump things like "formidable" and "large" (not just "very good") into the "great" category. Therefore, especially considering that it's an old phrase (like "Great Britain" and "The Great Fire of London", which don't AFAIK mean "Very Very Good Britain" and "The Very Very Good Fire" resp.), it could be (and I suspect it is) at least as much due to that ambiguity as it is due to any romantic whitewashing or glorifying his remarkable conquests.
#2 William Newman on 2017-02-22 18:01 (Reply)
Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody was entertaining in high school. The history teacher even borrowed it and read the class a few chapters.

The Great Bustard wasn't bad either.
#3 rhhardin (Link) on 2017-02-22 19:45 (Reply)
I think Great in the context of Britain isn't very old, 1700 or so. I assume it's synonymous with Greater, as in the entire island.

Alexander the Great is a title just to distinguish him from other Alexanders. What was accomplished under his leadership was considerably above average, which fits the definition of several dictionaries. Great doesn't necessarily mean good.
#4 Jack Walter on 2017-02-22 23:30 (Reply)
Re Great Britain, the origins go back a bit further ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain#Derivation_of_.22Great.22
#4.1 james on 2017-02-23 04:52 (Reply)

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