The legendary melville

See that subject line?

Word abuse, plain and simple; Few words receive the lashes that "legendary" does.

To my mind - and hosts of others - legends are stories dipped in both fact and fiction, or fact that time has glossed with a coat of mysticism.

Legends, fables and myths all roam freely between the true and the imaginary, but with legendary, people move too quickly to use it to label someone with peculiar talent.

King Arthur? Very legendary.
No one really knows if he existed, and if he did, it was without all the myths attached to him over the centuries.

Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr? You've got to be kidding, unless you write for Entertainment Weekly, which used that exact phrase (and spawned this rant).

Blues guitarist Robert Johnson comes with a legendary story; stories of The Devil trading unparalleled musical prowess for his soul, and his death at the hands of jealous husband.
Leadbelly is another who drifted into legend; born Huddie Ledbetter, he was the forerunner of today's rappers, a rough man who did hard time for murder and whose skills with a 12-string led to parole on a subsequent attempted homicide charge.

I think legacy and legend are twisted into confusion. We talk about presidential legacies, not legends. As with all our modern, trapping labels, there is a tendency to tag "legend" on talented people, usually in the arts or sports, still very much alive.

Let them rest for a few decades, then we can talk legend.

However, there is a legendary Melville -- as in the version of me who's always open with people and never caves in to moodiness.