"Hubris" Named Word of the Year (SFGate Poll)

[dooner]

"Hubris" is the word of the year -- just as it could have been 24 centuries ago.

The Greek term for "excessive pride or self-confidence" was chosen by 41 percent of the nearly 2,300 SFGate readers who participated in our online poll.

<snip>

Hubris was a central theme of Sophocles' play about the fall of King Oedipus, which was honored at Athens' annual drama festival about 427 B.C.

This year, numerous commentators cited hubris as the cause of what they considered human overreaching, from the below-sea-level development of New Orleans to the U.S. war in Iraq.

Reached by river ferry at his home in Hades, the shade of Oedipus allegedly commented: "Can't the media just forget about my lapse in judgment after all these centuries? 'Tis enough to give one a complex."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=2356

[Surya Gayatri]

1. Have to admit

it wasn't one of my regular lexical choices in the past. (to say the least, Ha!) Even had to look it up when it was first used here and in the press. But, wow it has practically become indispensable to describe the indefensible. SG

[stevietheman]

2. And Bush has become the poster boy for 'hubris'.

That's why everyone is saying it now. We needed a short word for "Oh no, he didn't!" and luckily, such a word already existed. :)

[OneBlueSky]

3. you beat me to it . . . I was going to note that when you look up . . .

"hubris" in the dictionary, you find Bush's photo as an illustration . . .