Mike Murray wrote in message . ..
On 14 Aug 2003 05:07:04 -0700, (David Ames) wrote:
What the well-known GM said, in German, was: "Gegen diesen Idioten
muss ich verlieren!" Now I am no expert in German language, but it
seems to me that he meant: "I *would* have to lose to this idiot!" As
I see it, it was principally a *self*-deprecating remark.

If calling the opponent an idiot is mostly self-deprecation, then how
to construct a real insult?

You are reading "to this idiot" as the self-deprecating portion of the
remark and that is of course not correct. "I *would* have to lose"
assigns the blame to the person speaking.

No, I don't read it that way.

'Reading is like setting a mirror before us.'
--Sarah Fielding (The History of the Countess of Dellwyn)

Dear Mr. Murray,

I concur with your reading.

Of course he's assigning some blame to himself...for losing to an *idiot*.
He's not calling *himself* an idiot. He's calling his opponent one.

Wouldn't you consider the GM's self-deprecation scant consolation to the
guy being called an idiot? Analogy: the football quarterback loses girl
to the captain of the chess team. He remarks loudly to his peers in the
lunchroom, "Why must I be aced out by this ugly, pimple-faced nerd?"
No offense meant? He's just being self-deprecatory? I don't think so.

I doubt that GM Simen Agdestein, who played for Norway's national football
(soccer) team, has ever heard that about himself. :-)

http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/agd_eng.htm

To belabor the point even further, as to why the remark is more insulting
than self-deprecatory. He evidently considers his loss to the "idiot" to
be an aberration, but his opponent will still be an idiot tomorrow.

And perhaps not even a 'useful idiot'. :-)

--Nick