Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi there. My name is Patricia. I am calling from Jacksonville, Florida.
Jacksonville, great town. What’s on your mind?
So during COVID, my husband and I obviously started working from home.
And I did not realize after all these years being married to him that he used corporate jargon.
It was a new side of him that I was not aware of and thought maybe it was just, you know, that day, but it continued.
And then obviously the days turned into weeks and months and we had a few discussions about it.
And I just never understood.
I don’t, it’s just not something that I do, but he is a circle backer.
He does unpack things.
He does take deep dives.
He drinks the Kool-Aid.
He will talk about low-hanging fruit.
And so, you know, we had many discussions about it.
Oh, I bet.
But there was one in particular that he still uses from time to time when he’ll now work from home.
And it is fight the good fight.
And so he’s a sales manager.
And obviously, you know, he’s often motivating his staff and he has, you know, meetings where he’ll use some inspirational terms.
He finished a meeting one time and I said, why are you saying fight the good fight?
What does that mean?
And he’s like, well, you know, it’s just a motivational thing to say.
So I thought, you know what?
I’m going to throw it over to Away With Words and see what fight the good fight means.
Where does this come from?
So he just uses it like, go get them, tiger.
It’s a rally cry to his salespeople.
Now, you know, I am only hearing his part of the conversation.
I’m not hearing them.
So, yes, I’m assuming it’s always kind of rah, rah, fight the good fight.
And he’ll say somebody’s name at the end.
So I’m like, oh, you know, this.
Yeah, this is like, go get them. You can do this.
Well, Patricia, that’s so interesting that you’re saying that he’s using it as a term of modern corporate jargon, because I can tell you about the history of this phrase.
It goes way, way back.
And it actually gives us a chance to talk about a wonderful word for a particular rhetorical device.
You should spring this one on him.
It’s polyptotin.
Okay, spell that.
I will. P-O-L-Y-P is like polyp.
P-O-L-Y-P-T-O-T-O-N. Polyptotin.
And it refers to the rhetorical device where you repeat a word in different forms in the same sentence for emphasis or contrast or for just rhythmic effect.
So, for example, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
You’ve got fear as a verb and fear as a noun.
And then you have things like, you know, judge not that you not be judged, which is interesting because that comes from the Bible and so does fight the good fight.
How about that?
Okay.
Very interesting.
Right.
It goes all the way back to Paul’s letter to Timothy or the letter that’s attributed to the Apostle Paul, where he’s giving instructions to a younger believer about leading the church and setting a good example and being godly and kind and gentle.
And amid all this advice about doing all these kind and gentle things, he says, fight the good fight of the faith.
And that’s where we get the phrase.
Yeah.
So it goes way, way, way back.
And that letter to Timothy also includes the phrase that gives us the love of money is the root of all evil.
But also not far from keep the faith also comes from there.
Right.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
But one interesting context about that letter is as Paul is supposedly writing this letter, he’s in prison because he’s been sentenced to death by Nero, Emperor Nero.
And so he’s giving all this like gentle advice about the new church and Ephesus and just not concentrating on himself at all.
Just really thinking about the other person.
Yeah.
So I don’t know.
Your husband may be talking about, you know, fight the good fight over the name of a workshop or something.
But it’s got some heavy duty stuff going on in its history.
Yeah.
Well, Patricia, fight the good fight and keep the faith, and we’ll talk to you another time, all right?
Yeah.
Yeah, keep it up and, you know, just circle back whenever you can, and thanks for unpacking that for me.
We will, and we love that you’re helping us think outside the box.
Yeah, give us another field report sometime.
Yeah, we’ve got real synergy with you.
You should call again.
Yeah, do ping us.
Good idea.
Bye, Patricia.
Bye-bye.
Thanks.
