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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (46723)	1/25/2008 2:49:07 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 541994

I, too, think you are confused as to your analogy of Hitler conquered ...... "Conquer" is a verb denoting a deed. The word we have been discussing is "brave", which being an adjective confers some quality to the word it modifies. "Hitler conquered" merely states a fact, while "Hitler's brave conquest of France ..." would confer quality on that fact. Here is something of the etymology of "brave." Brave bravely, adverb braveness, noun —Synonyms 1. bold, intrepid, daring, dauntless, heroic. Brave, courageous, valiant, fearless, gallant refer to confident bearing in the face of difficulties or dangers. Brave is the most comprehensive: it is especially used of that confident fortitude or daring that actively faces and endures anything threatening. Courageous implies a higher or nobler kind of bravery, esp. as resulting from an inborn quality of mind or spirit that faces or endures perils or difficulties without fear and even with enthusiasm. Valiant implies a correspondence between an inner courageousness and external deeds, particularly of physical strength or endurance. Fearless implies unflinching spirit and coolness in the face of danger. Gallant implies a chivalrous, impetuous, or dashing bravery. —Antonyms 1. cowardly. We see that "brave" is in the galaxy of "heroic," "valiant," courageous," gallant," etc. IMO, the 9/11 perpetrators do not deserve association with such words. Flying a plane into a building populated with unsuspecting innocents is quite akin to stabbing someone in the back. I don't associate that deed with bravery. In the end, the only possible connection to "bravery" would be that they committed suicide. I have nothing against suicides, but I don't consider that deed to be brave either. We wouldn't have such a thing as synonyms if words were perfectly clear in their meaning. Virtually all words have nuances that develop over the years through common usage. It would be difficult to incorporate these subtleties in dictionary definitions. The inappropriateness of "bravery" in our discussion falls into the category of, "You know it when you see it." In this case, obviously neither Bill Maher nor yourself see it.