Never underestimate...

Question

Chloe runs the school paper and a cheerleader tells her no matter what
she writes the people are still gonna vote for her (the cheerleader).
Chloe: Never underestimate the need for the
clinically ambitious to pad their resumes.
What does she mean? Is she somehow mocking the cheerleader?

Planet Hopper · Accepted Answer

She's saying that she is clinically ambitious and that she has lied in her resume, which will beat the cheerleader...she's bragging, defiant, not really ironic to the cheerleader.

Sounds witty to say it like that

Cheers

Avangi · Answer

Hi Madhulk.
I take "clinically"here to be used like "certifiable," as in the popular usage, "certifiably psychotic" = "certifiable." It implies that someone has a textbook case/example of a recognized psychological disorder.

If I say someone is obese I mean they're just plain fat, in the popular sense. If I say someone is "clinically obese," I wish to evoke the medical sense of the word. The person is obese as defined clinically, by professional physicians - that is, a serious case.

I don't know if "ambition" is considered a psychological disorder, but Chloe is suggesting that it is, and specifically that the cheerleader is abnormally ambitious to the point that she is psychotic. At least, that's the way I take it.

To "pad" something in this sense is to falsify a record by adding things to it which are to your advantage. If you pad your expense account (or your tax deductions), you jack up the price of your meals, transportation, hotel room, etc. so your company reimburses you for money you didn't actually spend.

To pad your resume is to add things to it which will make you look good to a potential employer, but these are actually experiences or jobs which you never had.

To combine the two, if you're obsessed with getting ahead, you'll feel compelled to lie about what you've done (your experience).

It sounds like the cheerleader is trying to intimidate Chloe into exaggerating praise in her writeups. Chloe retaliates by implying the cheerleader is sick in the head.

- A.

Planet Hopper · Answer

It sounds like the cheerleader is trying to intimidate Chloe into exaggerating praise in her writeups. Chloe retaliates by implying the cheerleader is sick in the head.

I partly and kindly disagree, she is just saying that she (Chloe) is extremely ambitious, ambitious enough to play dirty by padding her resume.

U guys are confused because chloe talks about herself as a third person.

That's a common device in english, if you want to sound important, you talk about urself in third. Kings and queens do so.

Avangi · Answer

The editor of the school paper, and the cheerleader are competing against each other in an election?? (How do we know this?)

Whom is Chloe speaking to? If it's the cheerleader, you're probably right. I was assuming a third party.

Planet Hopper · Answer

In the absence of more context, we should assume they're talking to each other and they both are competitors, say for being the representative of a grade or similar.

However, if they're talking about a third person, may be another cheerleader, the meaning does not change much. Chloe then would be just warning the cheerleader about what the third party may do.

Cheers

Madhulk · Answer

Thanks, guys! And just to clarifiy it a little for you. There is an election for a new president
of the student government. And one of the candidates asks Chloe
since she writes the school paper which candidate she would endorce. And the comes the cheerleader
and says to Chloe that no matter what she wrote the students would still pick her not the other
candidate. And Chloe decides to throw up the line you already know.

Avangi · Answer

So Chloe, who writes the school paper, is not running for president, as far as we know.

The undescribed candidate asks Chloe about her endorsement.

The cheerleader candidate tells Chloe her endorsement is insignificant, and that she will beat the undescribed candidate.

Chloe delivers the now -famous line to whom? - The cheerleader? If so, I stand with my original statement.

Best wishes to all, - A.

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