December 18, 2008
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A Topic of Epics
So lately, I’ve been hearing a lot on Xanga about epics. There have been tons of epic fails, an epic post, and a post of epic proportions. My Creative Writing instructor even told me that one of my assignments had the potential of becoming an epic poem. Well, it’s a different context, but all the same. It’s not really about Xanga, but still, all the same.
The definition of EPIC is as follows: (according to Merriam-Webster)
1: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an epic <an epic poem>
2 a: extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope <his genius was epic — Times Literary Supplement> b: heroic— ep·i·cal
-pi-kəl adjective — ep·i·cal·ly -pi-k(&601
lē adverbSo I say. If everything is constantly EPIC, wouldn’t everything stop being epic? I mean, it says right up there that epic is beyond the usual or ordinary. So if everything is epic, that means it loses its epicness, correct? It becomes ordinary.I rest my case.
Comments (1)
Epic would still exist as a term, since you’d be using the word. You’d still be acknowledging that “epic” still exists, at least as a definition or description. I think your question has more to do with contrasts. If everything is unusual, then nothing is ordinary and thus the term “unusual” ceases to have meaning since being “unusual” would become ordinary. I am sure if everything was “epic” and there was nothing in existence that was not “epic”, eventually, there would have to be a degree of epicness that supercedes the normal level of “epic”, and we would have a new term describing something beyond epic that could be used as a contrast. Essentially, a new term would be invented to describe something “beyond epic”, and it would then replace the term “epic” in terms of value.