From Small Beginnings. . . .

The tide is turning on linguistic exaggeration!
You know what I refer to: "Fantastic! Incredible! Unbelievable!"
Sometimes it seems that the whole linguistic world
is an offspring of Lake Woebegon, where all the men
are good looking, all the women are strong, and
all the children are above average.

The turning of a tide is hard to see.
It begins almost imperceptibly,
something like water leaning the other way,
but I overheard what I fully expect will be
a tidal rush to a recognition of what average means,
of maybe just how Sears used to sell tools:
Good, Better, Best, not Amazing, Fantastic, Unbelievable.

Two completely non-heroic men met at Costco,
recognized each other, and traded news.
One of them asked, in turn, "How is your son doing?"
"Great!", said the other.
"Good!", said the first guy, "Great is good."

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