Monday, April 24, 2006

Valor

VALOR, n. A soldierly compound of vanity, duty and the gambler's hope.
"Why have you halted?" roared the commander of a division and Chickamauga, who had ordered a charge; "move forward, sir, at once."

"General," said the commander of the delinquent brigade, "I am persuaded that any further display of valor by my troops will bring them into collision with the enemy."

2006 Update: The fortitude of the resigned.

30 comments:

TLP said...

Valor, n., Getting up and going each day. Living, in spite of everything.

TLP said...

And, oh, yeah, FIRST!

Logophile said...

Facing the day even without Doug's word to fortify me.
Whew, glad i made it.

Ariel the Thief said...

"getting up each morning" was what I was going to say, too, TLP. :-)

The Village Idiot said...

valor: The other half of courage

The amoeba said...

Hmmm ... does Doug have a death wish today? Bad weekend? Or is he merely remembering those gladiators from Sar's story a couple of weeks back?

VALOR, n. Actions taken in defense of velour. Actions that make velour defensible.

FORTITUDE, n. The courage of one inside a fort, when it persists on the outside.

ycnhs - Secondary school Nirvana for the Bush Administration.

Ariel the Thief said...

"a couple of few weeks", I don't think we learnt it at school. I like it.

Tom & Icy said...

When us female dogs sense something out there in the dark, we bark and then go hide while the stupid male runs out there showing his valor.

Anonymous said...

Isn't that the fabric worn by retirees that usually comes in powder blue, fuschia pink and bubblegum purple? Or did I pick the wrong vowel?

Mutha said...

Yeah, right -- does it have to be "soldierly"? The pinko in me rejects that. Also, the woman-who-gave-brith side of me...

Valor: making it through the transitional stage of labor without killing anyone in the room.

LeMas. said...

valor-what happens when you're too dumb to be a coward.
Now who here was looking for a Masil Order Bride? Cause I'm always open to negotiation...

Omnipotent Poobah said...

valor - Doing something you shouldn't have to do because someone else did do what they were supposed to do.

Or...

Going to work everyday, take your pick.

Sar said...

In a false quarrel there is no true valor. - William Shakespeare.

Seems to me this is equally applicable to your recent Prattler essay, Doug.

O Ceallaigh - as I recall, valor belonged to the heroine. ;)

Jamie Dawn said...

You were able to post. Yippeee!
It took a lot of valor to have to wait like that. I'm sure you were battling valiantly against Blogger, and alas, you won!

GABRIEL C. ZOLMAN said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
GABRIEL C. ZOLMAN said...

My rock nerdines wanted to say, "He's that guy who stole Christian Death away from Rozz Williams..."

But then, if anyone on your page got that, I'd be worried.

)+(

Anonymous said...

flying through a dark prismatic tunnel on a carousel, the earth is
turning and you know it very well, your mind is reeling lika ten
helicopters wheeling and you're gonna hit the ceiling lika a mallet on
a bell, hey, blenderhead, they're starting to ask questions, your
transgressions ar a danger flashing sign, challenge conventions and
radiate your splendor and feel those flywheels curn your blenderhead,
tally up the gleaming ventured on a wishing well, each shining trinket
h as a story it can tell, your moments pining like those tales all
intertwining can become the rusted lining of a deep neglected shell,
hey, blenderhead, you ask so many questions, your confusion's a life-
affirming sign, break from tradition and carry on with valor and feel
those flywheels churn you blenderhead

Unknown said...

Valour: it takes great courage to spell it without the 'u', and turn Lord Tennyson in his grave

But then,
"Their's not to question why
Their's but to do and die
Into the Valley of Death
Rode the six hundred"

Minka said...

Karma, I had teh same thought. Valour without teh "u" is just not strong enough :)

valour, usually associated with a male holding in his hand a phallic shaped extention of some sort, protecting the damsel in distress.
Unfourtunately for our hero of the past, he couldn´t see feminism coming and valour now means being able to accept defeat.

I noticed you haven´t commented on any comments yet. Blogger still bugging you or do you have other friends than us?!

Unknown said...

haha Minka, well you know what turns 'Doug' without the 'u' ;))


zsuvqylw: zipping along quickly in my SUV is against the law

Doug The Una said...

Truly, TLP. And being first.

Logo, I'll try not to deprive you like that again.

Ariel, you still get credit. I believe you.

liberal army wife said...

valour: getting up and going on with life, even though your life sucks. ~LAW~

Doug The Una said...

Village Idiot, the first half being surrogacy?

Nice, O Ceallaigh, I especially like fortitude. It has Bierce's ring.

Ariel, socialist schools taught that phrase shorter?

Good girl, Icy. Dusty's expendible.

Jenna, you're over my head today. Not much hasn't been.

Mutha, I suspect Bierce wasn't present for much child-bearing.

Haha, Masil. To the rest of you, one of the key words someone used to find this site was "masil order bride"

Poobah, that has a nice cadence. I like it.

Absolutely, Sar. Thanks for a great quote.

Jamie Dawn, alas?

Well, Gabriel, I didn't get it and I'm not cool.

Shayna, I love those lyrics.

Karma, with a 'u' is too furrin'

Alas, Minka it was one of those work days when I was out working.

Karma, that's a great point. Floppy ears and all.

LAW, actually I think you and your husband can use the word without irony. I cannot.

Lila said...

valor, n. Telling even when they're not asking.

GABRIEL C. ZOLMAN said...

That's ok, Doug; it's better that way :)

)+(

TLP said...

You were actually working today? Huh! Talk about valor. We still are, right?

Who is Christian Death and what is his connection to valor? Inquiring minds want to know.

Indeterminacy said...

Valor: To run your e-mail program without a spam filter.

dddragon said...

blogger got the better part of my valor yesterday ... I gave up.

Doug The Una said...

Aral, I thought that was AGE.

I can live with it, Gabriel.

We still were, TLP. And I have no idea.

Indie, that's just reckless bravery.

Actonbell, absolutely the IRS wants to know your Social Security Number so they sent you an email with the address they had in their database.

Blogger tried us all, Dddragon. Good luck today, and I'm hoping for an update on the evil twins.

Miz BoheMia said...

I missed the party! Oh my!

Valor... does it count when you sneak in when the lights are out to write a little message. I'll be quiet... Shhh... and off I go!