{"id":4777,"date":"2019-12-28T13:57:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-28T13:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=4777"},"modified":"2019-12-29T01:59:52","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T01:59:52","slug":"word-of-the-day-aphorism-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2019\/12\/28\/word-of-the-day-aphorism-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Aphorism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The word of the day for today is aphorism<\/em>, a noun which means \u201ca terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/aphorism?s=t<\/a>). It\u2019s interesting to me that the example given by dictionary.com is the famous Lord Acton quote, \u201cPower tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.\u201d I have experienced the results of this truism a lot the last few years, not only in watching national politics but even where I work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to www.etymonline.com<\/a>, the word enters the language in the \u201c1520s, \u2018concise statement of a principle\u2019 (especially in reference to the \u2018Aphorisms of Hippocrates\u2019), from Middle French aphorisme<\/em> (corrected from Old French aufforisme<\/em>, 14c.), from Late Latin aphorismus<\/em>, from Greek aphorismos<\/em> \u2018definition; short, pithy sentence,\u2019 from aphorizein<\/em> \u2018to mark off, divide,\u2019 from apo<\/em> \u2018from\u2019 (see apo-<\/strong>) + horizein<\/em> \u2018to bound\u2019 (see horizon<\/strong>).
\u201cGeneral sense of \u2018short, pithy statement containing a truth of general import\u2019 (e.g. \u2018life is short, and art is long\u2019) is from 1580s in English. Distinguished from an axiom<\/strong>, which is a statement of self-evident truth; an epigram<\/strong> is like an aphorism, but lacking in general import. Maxim<\/strong> and saying<\/strong> can be used as synonyms for aphorism<\/em>, but maxims tend to be practical and sayings tend to be more commonplace and have an author’s name attached.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is that most people don\u2019t really make clear distinctions among the various words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonight is the Fiesta Bowl, Clemson versus Ohio State. In honor of the occasion, I thought I\u2019d share a few aphorisms regarding winning and losing. And actually, most of these are sayings because they can be attributed to a specific individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWinning isn\u2019t everything, it\u2019s the only thing.\u201d \u2013Vince Lombardi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWinning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.\u201d \u2013Wilma Rudolph (despite having grown up as a sickly child who had to wear a brace on one leg, she became the first woman to win 3 gold medals in track and field in the 1960 Olympic Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hated every minute of training, but I said, \u2018Don\u2019t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’\u201d \u2013Muhammad Ali<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.\u201d \u2013Paul Brown (the first coach of the Cleveland Browns, for whom the team was named)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWinning isn\u2019t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.\u201d \u2013Paul \u201cBear\u201d Bryant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou learn more from losing than winning. You learn how to keep going.\u201d \u2013Morgan Wootten (former coach of DeMatha Catholic High School\u2019s basketball team, the second winningest basketball coach of all time)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt a young age winning is not the most important thing\u2026 the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence.\u201d \u2013Arsene Wenger (long-time Arsenal coach)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I Love to play.\u201d \u2013Boris Becker<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing is black-and-white, except for winning and losing, and maybe that\u2019s why people gravitate to that so much.\u201d \u2013Steve Nash<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.\u201d \u2013Lionel Messi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really like that last one. But here\u2019s my favorite:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe play a sport. It\u2019s a game. At the end of the day, that\u2019s all it is, is a game. It doesn\u2019t make you any better or any worse than anybody else. So by winning a game, you\u2019re no better. By losing a game, you\u2019re no worse. I think by keeping that mentality, it really keeps things in perspective for me to treat everybody the same.\u201d \u2013Tim Tebow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, I found all these quotes at https:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/2016\/02\/best-sports-quotes-about-winning<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image, from the same website, is of Tim Tebow when he was winning at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The word of the day for today is aphorism, a noun which means \u201ca terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/aphorism?s=t). It\u2019s interesting to me that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4779,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4777\/revisions\/4779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}