• Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com
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    1 day ago

    This is the third time today that I have seen a reference to the sword of Damocles. Almost as if the entire fucking world feels like it’s only a thread away from destruction…

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I’ve been seeing it a lot more recently, too. IRL even.

      Did it get used by sometime famous recently or something?

      • Naz@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        There was a king once named Damocles that had a sword suspended over his throne that could come crashing down at any random moment and kill him, to remind himself of the fragility of his power, and human life.

        I have no idea how that anecdote might apply to people in power in this day and age, or why people would reference the anecdote.

        Glares at the fraying rope

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          I know the source and the idiom. I just don’t know why it’s picked up in popularity recently.

          I also don’t know why its use as an idiom doesn’t quite align with the story. It’s usually used to describe a situation where the threat of destruction isn’t random. For example, in the OP, the danger is the end of support for Win 10, not randomness.