people who are not polymaths

We still have a way to go before we can define polymath, but we can certainly agree on some people who have been called polymaths, but who are definitely not polymaths.

A polymath trumpeter? Dave Douglas, a jazz trumpeter, is certainly an outstanding and famous musician, but a polymath? The Boston Globe thought so in its 2004 article on Douglas.

A swimming polymath? Katie Hoff was certainly one of the best swimmers in the world, but a swimming polymath? The New York Times thought so in a 2008 article.

And a tax polymath? John Avery Jones is without a doubt a renowned tax lawyer and judge, but a tax polymath? His advocates thought so. Baker and Bobbett, eds., Tax Polymath: A life in International Taxation, Essays in Honour of John F. Avery Jones.

These people have had extraordinary accomplishments. They were and are among the greatest at their work or sport, but it is a stretch to call them polymaths.