When was your last Pyrrhic victory?
Asked by
LDRSHIP (
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)
July 29th, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory
I discovered this by random searching. I thought it was interesting meaning. Never heard it before till today.
I like the of meaning it as not in just terms of war or a battle. It can go beyond that like a metaphor would be if that is correct way to describe it.
Sometimes I feel like in a way I have had this. Also feel like America is doing this often. But that is an off topic ramble.
Have you had one? Or ever had one? If not perhaps an example.
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8 Answers
It is a very straightforward word meaning to win (at anything) with too great a loss. No metaphor here.
Pyrrhus:
( c. 318–272 bc ), king of Epirus c. 307–272. After invading Italy in 280, he defeated the Romans at Asculum in 279, but sustained heavy losses; the term pyrrhic victory alludes to this.
@gailcalled I meant for people to not only relate it to war or the like. Didn’t mean to confuse. Not the greatest writer.
Any time I have, and win, an argument with my wife.
Boy, it’s hard to say. I don’t live the kind of life that produces a lot Pyrrhic victories, any other kind of big victories, or big failures… so, I suppose, the last Pyrrhic victory I had was when I was on my way home from the beach, about 50 yards from my house and I decided, for some reason, to take video of my dog being really good and behaving really, really well in the car, because she’s such a total maniac under most other circumstance, I guess.
…. and because I was videotaping my dog in the passenger seat, behaving well, rather than paying attention to my driving, I ran into a tree and it was a little bit of a freak accident thing, because my Subaru Outback Wagon has all wheel drive, and I hit the tree at just the right angle, with my right front wheel, that my car actually drove up the tree, I just had the traction and I drove up the tree far enough to tip the car over, onto the driver’s side, and my dog and I were trapped in the car for 45 minutes. Neither my dog nor I were hurt, really. I had some very, very nasty bruises from the airbag deploying but that was it.
I got a ticket for inattentive driving and one for driving while operating a non-hand held mobile communication device but that one was dismissed, but I got some absolutely video of my dog behaving really well and being really good in the car.
Does than count?
The costs far outweighed the victory. I can assure you of that.
I think you have to have a pretty big life to have Pyrrhic victories. I think most ordinary people have ordinary victories and ordinary failures,
@LDRSHIP Welcome to Fluther.
I can’t recall having a Pyrrhic victory myself, but I saw one take place this summer. In the theater group of which I’m a member, a person made themselves indispensable in a play. They did it and then proceeded to alienate the entire cast. It was horrifying to watch. The person was not an asset to the production in the end but a liability.
They may have been victorious is getting their way in participating in the play, but they will not do so in another one any time soon. It’s definitely a Pyrrhic victory.
Someone hit us in the rear (their fault) on the freeway. We won the lawsuit, but were not awarded any money.
This reminds me of a gif set from tumblr of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Zachary explains something as being “Pyrrhic.” Chris Pine zones out for a few seconds making faces and finally goes ”. . .Pyrrhic?”, obviously having no idea what the word means. I always wanted to find that actual interview.
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