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NNadir

(36,736 posts)
26. It is nevertheless a very common locution to "Win the Nobel Prize."
Fri Oct 10, 2025, 02:01 PM
Friday

I have personally encountered Nobel Laureates in talks where they have been described as follows, "Richard Roberts won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1993..." during the introduction.

Grammar policing against common locutions to steal a phrase from someone who died before the prize was even conceived is likely to be as successful as "railing against a thunderstorm" or as Abraham Lincoln put it in the same era "As effective as the Pope's bull against a climate."

In general all of humanity wins as a result of the work of Nobel Laureates, with some minor exceptions. I agree that nobody loses.

No one, I might add, is interviewed to win a baseball game, a card game, or for that matter, the lottery.

It is worthy of note that no one applies to win the lottery unless it involves buying a ticket.

I often kid with my son by telling him that Malala "won" the Nobel Prize when she was 17. Therefore at 26 he's late. Of course he'll only "win" if humanity wins by his actions.

I agree that no one "loses" a Nobel Prize, but this case is a function of having a complete idiot running a dying world power thinking he could apply for one, even demand one. I don't think that grammar policing should preclude us from the opportunity of calling the Orange Pedophile in the White House a "loser."

Normal human beings cannot lose the prize but highly prominent amoral narcissists can and should "lose" in a sense of their inflated self regard being exposed as such.

It's all a joke, not a particularly funny one, but a joke all the same.

If it's any consolation to grammar cops, the Nobel Prize committees refer to the prize as being "awarded," and the, um, "winners" as Laureates.

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From Wikipedia: Four US Presidents Have Received the Nobel Peace Prize MineralMan Friday #1
Jimmy Carter has been the best recipient of my lifetime... ananda Friday #23
Agreed! MineralMan Friday #24
He wanted it, he coveted it, and he was denied it. Then he lost it. Ketchup cleanup time! Blues Heron Friday #2
Mr. Webster disagrees with your definition of "win." Gore1FL Friday #3
I think you missed MineralMan's point. Gimpyknee Friday #11
Nope Torchlight Friday #12
If the word was used in the context of a Medal of Honor, it would be accepted and understood for what is Gore1FL Friday #14
I remember when the Academy Awards changed the wording to "... and the Oscar goes to..." QueerDuck Friday #4
Quite true. It's awarded, not won. It's not a competition, though doubtless Trump sees it that way. Ocelot II Friday #5
;-{) Goonch Friday #6
he lost Shellback Squid Friday #7
And he lost to (gasp) a WOMAN! GopherGal Friday #8
The best part is that he will LOSE 3 more times Bluetus Friday #15
Apart from the sheer waste of the award in that case. apparently there is a rule niyad Friday #22
That's a pity. I wonder if the Nobel people would make one exception Bluetus Friday #34
Nobody wins a Nobel Peace Prize Dave Id Friday #9
Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize because Obama got one. It's part of Trump's sick need Gaugamela Friday #10
Very well put. twodogsbarking Friday #13
In 50 years we'll learn that Trump was not a nominee. Gimpyknee Friday #16
Cogent. Intelligent. Well-informed. Hekate Friday #17
Yassar Arafat was a previous recipient n/t MichMan Friday #18
And that has exactly what to do with the point of the OP? niyad Friday #20
Thank you. An important distinction. niyad Friday #19
It's much like His MAGAsty saying he always wanted to win a Purple Heart. MineralMan Friday #21
That one always puzzled me. It was as if he had no clue how one came niyad Friday #25
Truly, I don't think he actually knows. Or he has forgotten. MineralMan Friday #27
It is nevertheless a very common locution to "Win the Nobel Prize." NNadir Friday #26
As you note, we should take our cues from the Nobel Prize Committee. MineralMan Friday #28
William Faulkner was a writer too... NNadir Friday #33
Wonderful essay, MM. Totally Tunsie Friday #29
You're very kind to say so. MineralMan Friday #31
True Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Friday #30
Pretty much everything connected to trump is sickening. MineralMan Friday #32
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