Quote:
Originally Posted by Flak-Bait
"Team XXXX regretfully accepts."
That's what I want to hear. Or, in the words of Brendan McLeod, who has now passed on this tradition to me, "Team 1058 accepts graciously." It gets a reaction from the crowd and is supposedly more correct than "graciously accepts."
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It's not the order that matters, it's using the word at all.
Gracious: 1. Characterized by kindness and warm courtesy. 2. Characterized by tact and propriety.
Would you say: "Team 1058 accepts with much tact and propriety"? Exactly how tactful is it to walk around declaring how very tactful you are? How is it particularly gracious to declare just how very gracious you are?
It's the same problem you'd have if you went around telling everyone you knew about how great you are because you're so humble. It's a contradiction in terms. The whole point of this nigh unto 5 year old thread is that if you declare you're "graciously accepting" you're most definitely not being very gracious.