"Please don't say 'great.' Please don't say 'great.'" It's the most overused word in the world these days. It's, um, grating.We have many other words with which to extol things, people, events. "Great" hasn't been used to its full extent since, say, James Montgomery wrote:
Hail to the Lord's Anointed, great David's greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free;
To take away transgression, and rule in equity.
Note that in the hymn, the "great ones" are not just satisfactory. They are head and shoulders above their peers. They govern. They restore justice. Noteworthy excellence is a necessary but not sufficient precondition for the use of the title "great." Greatness bends the course of history towards the good.
So could everybody please stop using "great" for things that are just okay? Thanks, that'd be, well, appreciated.
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