What is the phrase I am looking for?
There is a short phrase, I believe in either French of Latin, that has to do with a person being “the man for the job” or “the person whose responsibility it is…” or “the chosen one (almost passively, as though he or she didn’t have a choice, perhaps up to fate, or this was the way that it would be…).”
Context: I am writing about Bobby Fischer, saying that American chess had a lot of catching up to do to Russian chess, and Bobby Fischer was…..... __________.
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26 Answers
The golden one? something golden?
@Trojans40 I think the phrase you might be thinking of is The Golden Boy. It would be applicable in this case, as in ”...and Bobby Fischer was America’s ‘Golden Boy’.”
That would be a phrase in French, unlike “Golden Boy”, which incidentally was the name Of Seinfeld’s tee-shirt that finally bit the dust…
I don’t know Latin, but the French might say “l’homme du destin”, “destiny’s man”
Fischer was the Bob for the job? ;-p
@RealEyesRealizeRealLies yes, that is close, i think. all else are good answers, but not quite exactly what i am looking for….
like something about Fischer being “charged with the role of…._____ (but not actually finishing that sentence but having the fill-in and the sentence be the definition for the phrase I am looking for).
how could i use par excellence – bobby fisher, chess player par excellence….?
How being “charged with the role of being David to the Russian Goliath”?
You could re-word the sentence and use the word pre-ordained.
Bobby Fischer was pre-ordained to fill the roll of the uber chess guy (or whatever term you like).
Are you thinking of the German, ein Wunderkind, which translates as “child prodigy’?
@Kardamom: Does “preordained” work in your sentence? We only know that after looking back on his life. Would you need a qualifier?
Fischer may have been pre-ordained to fill…but it wasn’t clear until he became an adult.
Here it is. There was an old photo lab called Nonpareil in St. Louis and I couldn’t remember the name earlier.
“Technically, this is a phrase, which has been misspelled as a single word for the benefit of English, and a foreign word (phrase), and therefore, excluded from discussion, but I’ll make a a brief exception because it is French.
Nonpareil comes from the Latin “non” (not) and “par” (equal). Literally, not equal, but figuratively, for unequaled or without equal. Old French kept the “non” and used a diminutive “pareil” for equal, so the etymology to usage is still direct, as is the current spelling.”
nonpareil
You know, like “unparalleled”. That making him the most qualified.
I think you can use pre-ordained in this instance, because the OP is writing about Fischer after the fact. The reader knows that he was pre-ordained, although Fishcher, himself, may not have known that at the time.
But I also like wunderkind or even phenom.
The OP is looking for “a short phrase, I believe in either French of Latin”.
Nonpareil is a phrase (word conjunction) from both.
Nonpareil sounds great…it means that he has no equal, nobody can compare to him.
I thought nonpareils were some sort of candy.
@Kardamom it is, you’re right.
from dictionary.reference.com:
3. a small pellet of colored sugar for decorating candy, cake, and cookies.
4. a flat, round, bite-sized piece of chocolate covered with this sugar.
picture
The candy is a later concoction.
Nonpareils, or hundreds and thousands… The French name has been interpreted to mean they were ’‘without equal’’
The etymology of the word is an applicable adjective in the context of the OP.
–adjective
1.
having no equal; peerless.
–noun
2.
a person or thing having no equal.
3.
a small pellet of colored sugar for decorating candy, cake, and cookies.
4.
a flat, round, bite-sized piece of chocolate covered with this sugar.
EXPAND
Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English nonparaille < Middle French nonpareil, equivalent to non- non- + pareil equal < Vulgar Latin *pariculum ( Latin pari- (stem of pār ) equal + -culum -cule1 )
—Synonyms
1. unparalleled. 2. nonesuch.
—Antonyms
1. ordinary.
nonpareil
How about the “ne plus ultra”? It is Latin and means the highest point attainable.
@janbb: Good one. And what about primus unter pares, which is Latin for “first among equals.”? Not exactly the same, but a useful phrase to know.
And it appears in Greek also: Πρῶτος μεταξὺ ἴσων, pronounced approximately as _protos metaksu eeson. (Note our old friend, “meta”.)
Did anyone mention sui generis? One of a kind.
Yeah all of those are great ones, “ne plus ultra”, “primus unter pares”, and “sui generis”... Love IT!
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