- Aristotle opens with the difficulty of defining the excess, mean and deficiency related to the pursuit of honor.
- The problem hinges around the word "ambitious." This could mean that a person is too grabby for honor than he ought to be. Then again, it could designate just a person who wants honor.
- Same problem for "unambitious": could be too lazy, could be a person not overly grasping for honor.
- As a result, the golden mean has no real name—since the extremes don't have a fixed terminology.
- In which case, we have to substitute "Goldilocks language": some love honor too much, some not enough, and some just right.