- #51
jedishrfu
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the word amateur can be used as either a perjorative or as a compliment to someone not trained at the level of a professional.
In sports, Jim Thorpe lost his Olympic medals because he was paid to play baseball and that in the eyes of the Olympic committee made him a professional. Many years later, they reversed their decision after it was realized that the Olympic Committee had violated its own statute of limitations and that racism had played a key role in the case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe
In many cases, when we see great accomplishment and the word amateur we don't think its an insult but a compliment as in the case of Fermat and others who treated math as a hobby but discovered great things.
Amateur astronomers are considered a great resource to the field of astronomy because they continually monitor the sky or look through reams of data from telescopes hoping to discover something that was missed.
To say they are amateurs in that context means simply its not their day job.
I could go on but feel that perhaps its time to close this thread and thank everyone for contributing here.
Jedi
In sports, Jim Thorpe lost his Olympic medals because he was paid to play baseball and that in the eyes of the Olympic committee made him a professional. Many years later, they reversed their decision after it was realized that the Olympic Committee had violated its own statute of limitations and that racism had played a key role in the case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe
In many cases, when we see great accomplishment and the word amateur we don't think its an insult but a compliment as in the case of Fermat and others who treated math as a hobby but discovered great things.
Amateur astronomers are considered a great resource to the field of astronomy because they continually monitor the sky or look through reams of data from telescopes hoping to discover something that was missed.
To say they are amateurs in that context means simply its not their day job.
I could go on but feel that perhaps its time to close this thread and thank everyone for contributing here.
Jedi
