Dec 262007
More than time to put ‘fierce’ to rest, unless it means fierce as in tiger. Within three pages of Alex Ross’s The Rest is Noise we hear about Janacek’s ‘fierce work ethic’ and Bartok’s ‘fierce technique’. Snow Falling on Cedars is “fiercely intelligent” according to The Times.
A technique for Bartok might be called fierce, and writers can turn nasty if not properly fed. But ‘fiercely intelligent’ usually means nothing more than ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ intelligent. In a levelling age, reviewers mustn’t be caught praising mere intelligence or judging its degrees.
We still need ‘fiercely independent’ however to describe a person who is brave and proud as well as vehement. (All three possibilities are in SOED.)