Thursday, November 15, 2007

Today's Noun - Prize

prize /praɪz/ Pronunciation Key - [prahyz]
–noun
1.
a reward for victory or superiority, as in a contest or competition.
2.
something that is won in a lottery or the like.
3.
anything striven for, worth striving for, or much valued.
4.
something seized or captured, esp. an enemy's ship and cargo captured at sea in wartime.
5.
the act of taking or capturing, esp. a ship at sea.
6.
Archaic. a contest or match. –adjective
7.
having won a prize: a prize bull; a prize play.
8.
worthy of a prize.
9.
given or awarded as a prize.

[Origin: 1250–1300; in senses referring to something seized, continuing ME prise something captured, a seizing < MF < L pre(hé)nsa, n. use of fem. ptp. of pre(he)ndere to take; in senses referring to something won, sp. var. of PRICE since the late 16th century]
—Synonyms 1. premium. See REWARD

Last night a friend and I were watching the movie "300" - which is a sort of comic book re-telling of the victory of the Spartan's over the Persians. In the opening of the movie a narrator conveyed that, in the Spartan community, the most beautiful girls were set aside as oracles. Their only purposes were to serve men in two ways - any way the man wanted, and as an as a medium between man and the gods. In a later scene there is a very large man, with a gleam in his eye and a wide smile on his face, promising that if another man will do his bidding victoriously, he would reward the man with "many oracles as the prize."

Upon hearing this dialogue I said, . . . "Women are always the sought after prize, but they are rarely treated as valuable when they are actually won."

The response of my friend was a hugh sigh that I was sure could be heard by my BFF, who lives two hours away. He looked at me as if I had three heads - one of them a fire breathing dragon. We both knew better than to even begin to have a discussion about it. Besides, I'd had a dose of antihistimines due to an allergy flare-up, and I was quite drowsy. My friend was just as glad, I'm thinking. He hates that I talk during movies anyway.

The scene from the movie was still on my mind today. Even with all the progress that's been made in the last few decades, I kept feeling like men just don't get it.

Is my statement about the movie right, or wrong? Do I need an attitude adjustment? Is the statement simply of my own viewpoint from my own balcony? Women, when YOU have been the prize, have you experienced being treated as a worthy one?

I found it QUITE interesting that in the "Origins" section of the definition, that "prize" is a varriant of the word PRICE since about the sixteenth century. Hummm.....maybe I'm just thinking about it like I'm the price, and not the prize. Ya think?

2 comments:

Liberty said...

While it has been said by others that I have be lucky enough to be married to men who "worship" me, I am sure it is fair to say, that while they worship me, they certainly don't value me as they should. Worship, yes. Prize, no.

So while I might think you could possibly need an attitude adjustment in another area (nothing stands out in case you wondered), I don't think this is one of those areas.

We are rubies, we are precious gems, but I am not sure I have met a man who actually treats his woman accordingly. I KNOW they are out there, but I have yet to meet a true Proverbs 31 husband.

jayedee said...

price? prize? i dunno, mostly i feel like something to be scraped off the bottom of one's shoe