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25 August 2008

Giving it 110%

I'm not a fan of hyperbole.

I think that facts and intelligence are demeaned when people try to embellish language. Every word in the lexicon has a specific meaning, by definition; if you didn't get that then just go to the next blog. One gains nothing by trying to compound it.

Equispace had a great post a while back regarding this very issue and since I'm in somewhat of a holding pattern, trying to come up with something to write about, I thought I would take the proverbial ball and run with it.

Pre-boarding an airplane is stupid. We're all pre-boarding right now. Something is not very unique or quite unique. Unique means one of a kind so just say that and be done with it.

You also cannot, by definition, give more than 100% in anything. Once you give 100% you are done, over, end of game, thanks for playing I thought the arrangement at the funeral was tasteful.

I understand the perceived need for people to amplify events. When so much is going on at any one time how can we possibly be expected to consider any event if it is just presented in its true form?

I lifted this quote from Dailygazette.com, which I found through Superfecta's recent post.

“I’m proud of him. He ran great,” Howard said. “I don’t think he could have done much more. He gave it 110 percent. Colonel John was, what, the second choice for the Derby? There’s not much you can say, really.”

Neil Howard I know nothing about except that I can pick his eyebrows up from the quarter pole and he probably doesn't deserve this little exposition but what are you gonna do?

Mambo in Seattle was my pick in the Travers and I was body englishing his ass down the stretch. He took the worst of the trip and still got as close as you can to a GI win without the Black Type. If he bows a tendon tomorrow and retires, would anyone really think he is not as deserving of a stud deal as Big Brown?

Language is music and the words that are its notes, when placed in proper order and stressed appropriately, have the power to change minds and create wonders. Let us not diminish its importance by trying to make it do more than it was meant to.

Let's just see if we can shoot for say 90%, because as far as I'm concerned, the NTRA, Jockey Club, TOBA, CDI, Magna, and the horse racing caretakers in general have failed to attain even a fraction of that figure.

4 comments:

Brooklyn Backstretch said...

As I watched a sporting event several years ago--hockey, I believe--in which a player went end to end pretty fast, the commentator noted, "He was literally shot out of a cannon!"

Anonymous said...

I agree with you 110% on this post. I can't tell you how many times I've read that a horse "exploded at the top of the stretch." Some writers even add the word "literally" to help the imagery.

Anonymous said...

Funny post.

My mother is always "starving" and it's usually like a "sauna" in my apartment. She also describes some of my relatives as "animals," though this concept remains up for debate.

Woody Allen in one of his books describes a woman as marrying money. Literally. The bride and a stack of hundreds.

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMhBhKUQM9w

The Bid

The Bid
Greatest horse ever to look through a bridle