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Such a b.... (thelemmy.club)
submitted 4 days ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] 32 points 4 days ago (2 children)

"Great tragedy" Weird word combination.

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  • [–] 30 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    It’s only weird when you correlate “great” with only being a good thing. In and of itself , “great” is neither good nor bad. It simply describes a thing as more than average or normal.

    e.g. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both great tragedies. They were also very bad things.

    e.g. Having a calm and rational discussion on the Internet is a great idea. It is also positive and reaffirming.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago

    Yeah, "great" is about "magnitude", not "quality". They aren't called the "Great Lakes" because they're super awesome, but because they are fuck-off massive. It's like the adjective "grand".

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