Saturday, September 09, 2017

Uniformed mailboxes: On second thought, "hubris" hasn't ever been one of Shane's excellent new words.


Last evening we welcomed the US Postal Service into the ranks of #TheResistance20152019.


BREAKING: US Postal Service joins #TheResistance20152019, draws line in sand at the McDonald Lane roundabout.



Tonight's satire is presented by ... hubris. But I still think she means "uniform," not uniformed.

Oddly, never before has "hubris" been the topic of the weekly vocabulary column, which is dedicated to the distant memory of the city corporate attorney's integrity.

So, let's have a look at hubris.

In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride combined with arrogance. Hubris is often associated with a lack of humility. Sometimes a person's hubris is also associated with ignorance. The accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of hubris and nemesis in Greek mythology. The proverb "pride goeth (goes) before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (from the biblical Book of Proverbs, 16:18) is thought to sum up the modern use of hubris. Hubris is also referred to as "pride that blinds" because it often causes a committer of hubris to act in foolish ways that belie common sense. In other words, the modern definition may be thought of as, "that pride that goes just before the fall."

Go to Wikipedia for the rest of the story, and make no mistake: Mayor Jeff M. Gahan is the master of hubristic self-presentation.

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