# big ego -v- small ego



## Robert Bennie

G'day forum

I am interested in the way we speak and what we really say when we speak.

A common insult is to accuse a person or having 





> a big ego


 when we observe selfishness or greed.

I would like to know why we accuse that person of having a big ego when the opposite is the case.  This person has an ego so small that they are unable to consider others above themselves.

Would we be more accurate to tell the person that they had 





> a small ego


 
Robert


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## Agnès E.

Bonjour Robert,

So it would be a question of perspective, you mean ?
Interesting.


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## mzsweeett

Now there is food for thought.   I am in great anticipation of everyone's thoughts.

Sweet T.


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## Agnès E.

Of course, an ant cannot see the top of a girafe's head, if you see what I mean...


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## Robert Bennie

G'day Agnes E

I see that you can see my drift.  I suspect that your ego is healthy and certainly not anorexic.

Robert


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## Agnès E.

Thank you Robert! 
I just tried to adapt my brain to yours according to the threads I've read, that's all...
As my mother taught me when I was a little girl : 
"Tourne sept fois ta langue dans ta bouche avant de parler" (could be translated by : think a long time before telling what came to your mouth in the first place...)


And I follow you on that particular track! Understand people is ALSO trying to see what is behind, what is hidden, not running into the wall and say "ouch! he hurt me with his nasty ideas!!..."
Please forgive my English, philosophical debates are VERY difficult in a foreign language. I cannot express myself that easily ...


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## Robert Bennie

G'day Agnes E.

You seem crystal to me and me mates say


> Hitch up the horse before you grab the reins


 
Your word shapes are different and I'm interested

Robert


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## Agnès E.

Nice phrase, I'm going to try and keep it in my mind (useful for my children, too, haha!).

Robert, this discussion could probaby been melted to the one about successful women, I guess. I mean, sometimes having the acknoledgement of the whole humanity is not necessary. You can get satisfied by the intimate knowing that you did a good job.
No ?


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## Robert Bennie

G'day Agnes E.

Yes but I still wonder at the shape of the phrase

The solution of polution is our evolution

Robert


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## Agnès E.

... and not devotion to motion ?


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## Robert Bennie

G'day Agnes E.
Does double entendre mean what I think it means or mean what I think it said?

Robert


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## Agnès E.

Well, Robert 

I do not know "double entendre" in French.
I know "double sens" = two meanings, one obvious and one underlying.

"entendre" was used in the past for... understand.

Thus you hit the point, anyway !


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## Robert Bennie

G'day Agnes E.
You learn something new every day.  I was always told that double entendre was a French term

Sweet

Robert


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## Agnès E.

Two French words do not always make one French phrase.
And two different minds sometimes do not merge totally...
But as long as the discussion is possible, it's fine!


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## Robert Bennie

Everything is possible if you try hard enough

Robert


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## Agnès E.

My answer will be two French (very provocative) humorist's sentences, that I chose as my previous signatures. I offer them to you in French, just tell me if you need them to be translated:

A la guerre, l'ennemi est très important, pour ne pas dire irremplaçable.

And :

L'ennemi est bête. Il croit que c'est nous l'ennemi, alors que c'est lui!


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## mzsweeett

Agnes E. said:
			
		

> My answer will be two French (very provocative) humorist's sentences, that I chose as my previous signatures. I offer them to you in French, just tell me if you need them to be translated:
> 
> A la guerre, l'ennemi est très important, pour ne pas dire irremplaçable.
> *And* :
> L'ennemi est bête. Il croit que c'est nous l'ennemi, alors que c'est lui!


Yes, please do translate it....I know absolutely no French!!

Thanks 

Sweet T.


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## Agnès E.

Well, just a try then, Sweet T., please be indulgent ! 

For a war to be possible, the enemy is very important, no to say irrepleacable.
and
The enemy is stupid. He thinks we are the enemy, while he is!

Conclusion: don't feel threatened, you won't be aggressive in return and no war will then be possible...


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## Artrella

Agnes E. said:
			
		

> Well, just a try then, Sweet T., please be indulgent !
> 
> For a war to be possible, the enemy is very important, no to say irrepleacable.
> and
> The enemy is stupid. He thinks we are the enemy, while he is!
> 
> Conclusion: don't feel threatened, you won't be aggressive in return and no war will then be possible...




Yes Agnes!!! So there are not enemies...if I think someone is my enemy and he thinks I am his enemy... both are enemies... so both are the same thing?
If we are the same thing... why should we fight??? Am I crazy??


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## Agnès E.

No, you just clearly understood the meaning !


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## Robert Bennie

G'day Agnes E.

Old sayings become old sayings only when they are wise.

Robert


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## Agnès E.

Why old?
Because nothing wise can come out from something new?
Or because everything has already been said?


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## Robert Bennie

The new sayings become old sayings only through time. All sayings must be new at their birth but only the wise sayings will ripen to become a mature red wine worthy of history.

My daughter calls

Robert


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## Agnès E.

Do you think we still have something to say? That it is worthy? 
Or that we can only change the WAY we express everlasting ideas (and here come the poetry and word games)?


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## Robert Bennie

I wouldn't be wasteing my time here if I didn't hold out some hope that we are as clever as we need to be in a tricksy world.

When Shakespeare first said whatever he said it was new but it is now old because it was wise and we decided to keep it.  If you say something it is new and if it is wise it too has a chance at aquiring the age necessary to become an old saying.

Old sayings are old sayings because they remain fresh and new to us and our new sayings will become old if they are wise or they will be fade with ignorance

Robert


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## Agnès E.

But ignorance can also be a good thing, in the way that it enables us to try to renew old sayings (as we do not know they exist), and give them a new life by discovering their very truth another time...


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