Quote:
Originally Posted by Since1984
Remember that we speak english and in many cases a word has dual meaning, in some of those cases, one contradictory of each other.
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And those words always cause trouble with written communication because of the ambiguity. The last thing we need is to create more of them.
However, all will probably well. ‘GOAT’ reminds me of another acronym, ‘Gröfaz’. Back in World War II, once it became obvious that Hitler had massively screwed up by invading Russia, German troops began calling him Gröfaz – ‘Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten’, or Greatest General of All Time. The acronym was invented by Goebbels' propaganda people as a way of praising Hitler, but the troops
always meant it sarcastically – more so as the war went on and it became clear that Germany was being destroyed.
To this day, the German press sometimes use derivatives of ‘Gröfaz’ as insulting nicknames for things or people. I recall seeing ‘Greatest Team of All Time’ and ‘Greatest Coach of All Time’ used in German sports reporting, for instance, though I can't remember which awful soccer club and coach they were referring to.
I imagine ‘GOAT’ will quickly come to be used ironically, and before you know it, calling somebody the GOAT will be the same as calling them… well… the goat.