Wikipedia sez: "Greatness or pre-eminence is a concept heavily dependent on a person's perspective and biases. The term can be used to emphasise perceived superiority of a person or thing." Much more concise than Orr, eh?I'd say Ian Dury nailed the concept in his landmark works, "There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards" and "Reasons to be Cheerful, Pt. 3." But if that don't suit ya....
Here are some great things, according to the great Wiki:
- Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
- Greatest Generation
- 100 Greatest Britons
- The 50 Greatest Cartoons
- The Greatest Canadian
- The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
- New Seven Wonders of the World
- Greatest Nationals
Need a great quote?
- Greatness, in spite of its name, appears not to be so much a certain size as a certain quality in human lives. It may be present in lives whose range is very small.
2 comments:
This topic is beginning to grate on me.
Uh ... most of those wiki Greatest Hits would have the Orr quotation marks crowding them, as well, as evidenced even by wiki's minimal elaboration. As to the Brooks' quote, that ramrod rectitude Rev. said "life before lit" (which I agree with, but it, then, can't be compared with the distinctions Orr makes.)
I remember taking a course in Uni history in which a prof spontaneously stopped the name-and-date spiel, and said, "you know, everyone these days goes on and on about the latest great movie or great guy or gal they just met. Well, the word's been cheapened. Now Alexander, he was great." But, then, siding with that sentiment just makes me a snooty objectifier, too. (Where's my great tweed-pipe-slippers combo?)
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