Author: Albert Silver
Date: 03:43:50 12/04/01
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On December 03, 2001 at 18:33:40, Miguel A. Ballicora wrote:
>"Sour grapes" means that after you cannot reach a goal that you really wanted,
>you say "it was not important after all" trying to diminish your failure.
>It comes from a greek short story (fabula) written by Esopo (at least in spanish
>is spelled in this way). A Fox (female) really wanted to reach some juicy grapes
>on the tree (vine) and tried everything for that purpose. When she faced the
>reality that it was impossible to get them, she turned around and said "well,
>they were sour anyway".
>
>So, the expression "sour grapes" has not been used correctly. It is not lying,
>it is not whining or anything like that.
I don't agree with your interpretation of the term. In Aesop's fable, the fox's
comments _were_ a form of whining because he couldn't reach his goal, and were
not an admission that the goal could not be reached. This is indeed the fact,
but the fox wouldn't admit it, hence the "sour grapes".
Albert
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