"Never have we come through your fair town," he replied sternly, not thrilled with being called a giant.

"You might call me a giant," said the Large Voice.

He again calls a giant, this time to wade across with him on his shoulder.

Ah," she said, "you are a large man, but I should scarcely call you a giant.

Longley has also got tougher, however, and bridles at being called a gentle giant.

Small wonder; I was half-afraid she'd heard Clare call her a giant, which she certainly wasn't.

Mike Downey's interview of the man he called a "gentle giant" drew these candid responses, highlighted here.

And Paul Rand, who died last week at 82, would have to be called a giant in this pantheon.

China has been called a sleeping giant that would be best left undisturbed.

Even so, the invention of bluegrass was without doubt an important cultural event, very probably significant enough to justify calling its inventor a musical giant.