Isn't it wrong for sports athletes or reality TV competitors to say they

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are "going to war"? I hear sports athletes and lately reality TV stars in those shows like Road Rules/Real World Challenge and I Love Money, Rock of Love, etc. etc. say things like they are "going to war"...but they've never been in a real war where real soldiers and innocent civilians die. Isn't that a disservice to real victims and fighters of war?
 
Language is all about comparing one thing to another, and frequently about exaggerating. People call things 'very unique' (something can't be more one-of-a-kind, it either is or isn't), movies ads call one movie after another 'the biggest movie of the year', and generally people just abuse language. The one I hate the most is figuratively vs. literally. I'm figuratively going to kill the next person I hear doing that, literally! (See, doesn't that sound much more emphatic?)

Describing things as war is just part of language. Phrases like 'love is war' have been around forever (forever? since dinosaur times?) We've had wars on poverty and wars on Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty. Political parties and news organizations have 'War Rooms'. These people aren't trying to be disrespectful. All they are doing is reusing a tired worn out metaphor that is as cliche as ice cream on a summer day. (That has a nice ring to it doesn't it, 'cliche as ice cream on a summer day.' Maybe we can turn that into a new tired worn out cliche.)

The Gennie is out of the bottle on this one. (Oh no! Another cliche. They are everywhere.)
 
Language is all about comparing one thing to another, and frequently about exaggerating. People call things 'very unique' (something can't be more one-of-a-kind, it either is or isn't), movies ads call one movie after another 'the biggest movie of the year', and generally people just abuse language. The one I hate the most is figuratively vs. literally. I'm figuratively going to kill the next person I hear doing that, literally! (See, doesn't that sound much more emphatic?)

Describing things as war is just part of language. Phrases like 'love is war' have been around forever (forever? since dinosaur times?) We've had wars on poverty and wars on Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty. Political parties and news organizations have 'War Rooms'. These people aren't trying to be disrespectful. All they are doing is reusing a tired worn out metaphor that is as cliche as ice cream on a summer day. (That has a nice ring to it doesn't it, 'cliche as ice cream on a summer day.' Maybe we can turn that into a new tired worn out cliche.)

The Gennie is out of the bottle on this one. (Oh no! Another cliche. They are everywhere.)
 
Not only that phrase but others. Sports are good (bad) for using phrases with hideous negative social connotations. But other areas of media also do it. It's particularly bad for youngsters who then pick up on these and use them.
 
No because in the scenario they are it can be a very intense situation and if you take that seriously get a life
 
Or like when people say "I"m so depressed!" because their favourite show isn't on that night.
Or someone says, "I can't believe how much that meal cost. That restaurant just raped me."
Or...

Some words are more sacred to some people than to others. I think it makes the issues seem less extreme when such use is popularized but people will do it nonetheless.
 
yes and no...it's sad that they and the media are so desensitized to the concept of war...but at the same time...in a metaphorical sense they r soldiers on a different type of battlefield...so in a way the concept of going to war is there...also keep in mind that in many cases they too r going thru situations that cause strong emotional reactions and that like soldiers they have bonded strongly with their teammates to the point of brotherhood...
 
yes and no...it's sad that they and the media are so desensitized to the concept of war...but at the same time...in a metaphorical sense they r soldiers on a different type of battlefield...so in a way the concept of going to war is there...also keep in mind that in many cases they too r going thru situations that cause strong emotional reactions and that like soldiers they have bonded strongly with their teammates to the point of brotherhood...
 
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