the.com/sportsman
Someone who loses gracefully in public so you don't have to practice losing at all.
means A person who plays sports, or who plays fair and takes winning and losing with equal grace.
from A straightforward compound of 'sport' — from Old French 'desport,' meaning amusement or diversion, rooted in the idea of carrying oneself away from one's labors — plus 'man.' The word picked up its moral weight, the sense of fair play and gracious conduct, as amateur athletic codes hardened in the 1800s and 'sportsmanship' became a virtue worth naming.
- origin
- 18th century term for hunting and fishing gentlemen
- spirit over skill
- sportsmanship outranks winning in the actual definition
- etymology twist
- once meant gambler on games, not player
- modern irony
- term now mocked when athletes behave badly