the.com/pedestal
The flattering platform that gives you the longest possible way to fall.
means A pedestal is the base or supporting block on which a statue, column, or other object stands — and, figuratively, an elevated position of admiration we place people on.
from From the Italian piedestallo, literally 'foot of the stall' — piede (foot, from Latin pes) plus stallo (a stall or standing-place, of Germanic root). The word marched into French as piédestal and then into English in the 1500s, carrying its plain architectural sense: the foot that lets the statue stand. The lofty metaphor — putting someone 'on a pedestal' — came later, once we noticed that what we raise up high we can also watch topple.
- latin root
- From 'pie di stallo' — foot of a stall
- psychology
- Idealizing partners predicts harsher disappointment later
- toppled
- Empty pedestals outnumber surviving statues worldwide
- engineering
- Higher base means greater tipping torque
nelson's column — 170-foot monument in trafalgar square london with admiral nelson's statue on top since 1843
statue of liberty pedestal — 151-foot concrete and granite base in new york harbor completed in 1886
washington monument base — 555-foot obelisk pedestal in washington dc completed in 1884