# what is the best possible honor?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 18, 2001, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983 "2001-02-18T10:24:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/1 "2001-02-18T10:24:46Z")

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What is the best possible honor a person can get?

a) A day in their honor, like Colombus, Washington, or MLK  
b) A coin with their picture on it  
c) A stamp with their picture on it  
d) A prize, like Nobel, Pulitzer  
e) A prize named after you like Nobel or Pulitzer  
f) A city, state, country, body of water named after you  
g) A verb named after you

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**Author:** ![Soda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Soda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soda)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/2 "2001-02-18T11:16:25Z")

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Alright, this is JMHO. I have arranged your alternatives in the order I see most appropriate, along with explanations as to why I think so.

Starting with the least honorable.

1. _A verb named after you._ It just seems to me a very ordinary thing. Lets remember that a word is officialy a word whenever enough people use it, it’s not like it needs to be approved or anything. Example: I think I’ll mona this. (Mona Sahlin is a Swedish politician, she used her government credit card to buy diapers and chocolate.)

2. _A stamp with your picture on it._ A fairly common way to honor athletes and singers and such. At least in Sweden.

3. _A prize, like Nobel or Pulitzer._ Mainly because, relatively speaking, more people are awarded prizes than instituting them.

4. _A prize named after you, like Nobel or Pulitzer._ Mainly because Nobel (for instance) instituted the prize himself. It wasn’t someone else who thought he was so great that he deserved to have a prize in his honor. But it’s still cooler than 5, 6 and 7.

5. _A city, state, country, body of water named after you._ In most cases these things last forever, but sometimes they don’t. Leningrad for instance. And how many people living in Washington, DC, think about George Washington on a daily basis?

6. _A coin with their picture on it._ Easy. A picture. How cool is that?

7. _A day in their honor, like Columbus, Washington, or MLK._ The rest of the alternatives are not necessarily meant to remember a certain person. A day in your honor is specifically designed to be a tribute to you, kids read about how cool you were and there are parades. Imagine that, _parades!_

Anyway, JMHO.

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**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/3 "2001-02-19T00:07:02Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by soda \*  
> \*\*
> 
> 1. _A verb named after you._ It just seems to me a very ordinary thing. Lets remember that a word is officialy a word whenever enough people use it, it’s not like it needs to be approved or anything. Example: I think I’ll mona this. (Mona Sahlin is a Swedish politician, she used her government credit card to buy diapers and chocolate.)
> 
> \*\*

Excellent point, **soda**! (Though compared to some things politicians indulge in, diapers and chocolate sound pretty harmless! --\>assume a smile & wink here\<–) The other day I heard someone say, “He got Starred”–meaning hounded and nitpicked by a zealot a la special prosecutor Ken Starr’s jihad against the Clintons and anyone close to them.

Seems like people whose names become part of a language aren’t exactly being complimented, no matter what form it takes, i.e. noun, verb, adjective. The first word/name that popped into my brain was **Quisling**. It’s means traitorous, from the WWII Norwegian enthusiastically led a puppet government for the Nazis during occupation.

You’re absolutely right. No one sanctioned the word; people just adopted it because it’s such an apt shorthand way to express something complex. But it sure ain’t flattering. If anything it keeps infamous behavior, well, famous.

Veb

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/4 "2001-02-19T00:14:11Z")

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Are you kidding?  
You ain’t made it until they’ve named a beer after you or Weird Al has parodied you. 😉

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/5 "2001-02-19T00:19:17Z")

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The above ain’t nothing compared to a rare SDMB post by the great Cecil Adams, mentioning you in bold.

All else, is transcience …

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**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/6 "2001-02-19T00:40:03Z")

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A prize. Namely the Pulitzer. (That’s Zoggie’s goal…her idealistic one, anyways.) Because you have to work for it, I guess. Well, having one named after you is good too, but as soda said…a lot of people just name them after themselves. A day would be nice if they didn’t take me for granted.

I’d **really** like to judge Westminister, but that’s a (sigh) pipe cleaner dream. Still, I can dream, right?

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**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/7 "2001-02-19T01:17:57Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ice Wolf \*  
> \*\*The above ain’t nothing compared to a rare SDMB post by the great Cecil Adams, mentioning you in bold.
> 
> All else, is transcience … \*\*

I know what you mean Ice…

Keith

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**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/8 "2001-02-19T01:19:14Z")

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Grrr…forgot the sig…

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**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/9 "2001-02-19T01:38:52Z")

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The highest honor is to have temples built exclusively to worship you.

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**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/10 "2001-02-19T01:47:27Z")

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For me, the best possible honor I ever had or could hope to have was when my 13 year old daughter told her friends, in FRONT of me, how cool I was because I listened to cool music.

🆒

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/11 "2001-02-19T01:55:24Z")

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Highest possible honour?

To have one’s spouse and children say they love and respect you.

Anything else is just a poor substitute.

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**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/12 "2001-02-19T02:55:15Z")

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I would settle for People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive”, but I wont hold my breath.

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**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/13 "2001-02-19T03:26:53Z")

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I’ve got to agree with jti. Being “dad” is both my highest achievement and greatest reward.

On the issue of having a verb named after you, you’d have to ask the former intern if “getting Monica’d” is an honor or not. 🙂

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**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/14 "2001-02-19T03:36:44Z")

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You could name a race after a man. A [man so respected](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60488), loved and loathed, but always respected.

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**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/15 "2001-02-19T03:48:51Z")

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Having someone say “I trust you.”  
Never having somone say “I trust **ed** you.”

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**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/16 "2001-02-19T03:51:20Z")

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You haven’t made the big time until you are an action figure 🙂

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**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/17 "2001-02-19T04:58:24Z")

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Oh! Getting to host SNL.

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**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/18 "2001-02-19T06:00:19Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by thinksnow \*  
> \*\*You could name a race after a man. A [man so respected](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60488), loved and loathed, but always respected. \*\*

That’s funny - before I read the link, I thought you were talking about someone like Joe Caucasian.

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**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/19 "2001-02-19T14:05:37Z")

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Seriously:  
To have someones child named after you.  
To have someone say I love you.  
To have someone say you are a good friend  
To have someone ask for your opinion because they trust you  
To be seen as a good person

Keith

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**Author:** ![Pnuk\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Pnuk\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pnuk_Guy)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-possible-honor/54983/20 "2001-02-19T14:19:57Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Odieman \*  
> \*\*Seriously:  
> To have someones child named after you.  
> To have someone say I love you.  
> To have someone say you are a good friend  
> To have someone ask for your opinion because they trust you  
> To be seen as a good person
> 
> Keith  
> \*\*

Nah. I’d prefer a national Holiday. with Parades (soda :))