Vocaboly.com

[Ben Zimmer]

In his statement accompanying the announcement of suspensions for the
big Pacers-Pistons brawl, NBA commissioner David Stern said:

The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the
professionalism and self-control that should fairly be
expected from NBA players.
<http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=271338>

Does this strike anyone else as odd? I understand that "exceed" is used
here in the sense of 'go beyond the limits of', but I can't help reading
it in the sense of 'surpass, outdo'. Somehow "professionalism" and
"self-control" don't seem like proper objects for the intended sense of
"exceed" -- as opposed to "authority", "jurisdiction", "allowance",
"right", "privilege", or other concepts that are understood as limited.

Googling suggests that I'm not exceedingly off-base here:

http://www.patmooneyrealestate.com/chrismooney.html
You will not find a Realtor who exceeds the professionalism
reputation and class of Chris Mooney.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afghaniyat/message/4260
There are many organizations that perform this type of work,
but none that exceed the professionalism and the work ethic
of these guys with PACTEC.

http://www.marketingmaniac.net/about_content.shtml
Jim and his agency far exceeded the professionalism of
the other agents and agencies. As a result, we had a
very pleasant experience.

http://www.billhodges.com/refern.htm
Their performance consistently exceeded the professionalism
we expect. The quality of their instruction, their ability
to relate the course to the specific needs of each class,
was extraordinary.

The first three examples use "exceed" to mean 'surpass' by comparing
individuals, companies, etc.: "X exceeds the professionalism of others
like X." The final example is even more germane, since it uses the same
construction as Stern used: "the actions of X exceed the professionalism
expected of those in X's position."

Context is key, of course, but I could imagine the suspended players
putting their own spin on Stern's statement: "Hey, the commissioner said
we exceeded his expectations of professionalism and self-control -- so
what's the problem?"

[Maria Conlon]

Ben Zimmer wrote:

[don groves]

In article <41A1ACFE.CAFACE6D@midway.uchicago.edu>, Ben Zimmer at
bgzimmer@midway.uchicago.edu exposited:

[Mark Barratt]

Ben Zimmer wrote:

[Jess Askin]

"Mark Barratt" <mark.barratt@enternet.hu> wrote in message
news:xn0dq3tac4nohd002@news.individual.net...

[Richard Maurer]

Ben Zimmer wrote:
In his statement accompanying the announcement of suspensions for
the big Pacers-Pistons brawl, NBA commissioner David Stern said:

The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the
professionalism and self-control that should fairly be
expected from NBA players.
<http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=271338>

Does this strike anyone else as odd? I understand that "exceed"
is used here in the sense of 'go beyond the limits of',
but I can't help reading it in the sense of 'surpass, outdo'.
Somehow "professionalism" and "self-control" don't seem like
proper objects for the intended sense of "exceed" --
as opposed to "authority", "jurisdiction", "allowance", "right",
"privilege", or other concepts that are understood as limited.



At first I thought they just left out "the limits of" but that still
does not work:
"wildly exceeded the limits of self-control"

What works (and might have been version 1) is
"The actions of the players involved fell far short of the
professionalism and self-control that should fairly be
expected from NBA players."

That works, but is too tame for such a brawl.
Yet it is hard to fit a 'wildly' in there.
Fitting the existing 'wildly', 'professionalism', and 'self-control'
together is left as an exercise for our readers.

-- ---------------------------------------------
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.
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