So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Fading Fast]

Failing that it's amazing what you can pick up from just a good interlinear translation and a copy of Smith's Bible Dictionary. For example, there's five different Hebrew words translated "fool," each describing a specific kind of folly, and that nuance is lost in just about every English translation, who reduce each different word to "fool" or "stupid." A fool who refuses to recognize properly-exercised authority and a fool who gives himself over to heedless self-indulgence aren't necessarily the same kind of fool. The fool described in the above verse is the latter kind, which gives the verse a whole different meaning from the blind literalism of "stupid people should be beaten with a stick."

See my prior post in this thread. 'Nuff said.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Don't spill ground-meat in jelly on your homes desk chair...

Especially if you have a cat in the house.

 

[Zombie_61]

I know we've chatted about this one before, but yesterday I had to pick up some freezer bags and I knew (because I check their sales on-line each week) that the local market had Ziplock's on sale. So, since the unit price was really good, I bought the box of nineteen (!).

Give me a break - 19, like that wasn't, at least, 20 at some point when some "genius" at Ziplock got the idea of keeping the price the same but reducing the number of bags with the "brilliant" insight that "most people won't even notice."...

Two words: bar soap. For decades bar soap was a relatively simple affair that came in a thick rectangular or oval-shape. Then someone cooked up the word "ergonomic", the soap producing companies carved 25-45% off of their soap bars, and sold them for the same price explaining that the new shape was easier to use. Remember all those hours you spent complaining about how difficult it was to use bar soap before they changed the shape? Yeah, me neither.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fortunately, Fels Naptha still comes in an honest rectangular block that's just right to chip into the washing machine with a cheese grater. Startlingly, though, it no longer contains any actual naptha.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Sulphur 8 medicated shampoo no longer contains sulphur.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

Failing that it's amazing what you can pick up from just a good interlinear translation and a copy of Smith's Bible Dictionary. For example, there's five different Hebrew words translated "fool," each describing a specific kind of folly, and that nuance is lost in just about every English translation, who reduce each different word to "fool" or "stupid." A fool who refuses to recognize properly-exercised authority and a fool who gives himself over to heedless self-indulgence aren't necessarily the same kind of fool. The fool described in the above verse is the latter kind, which gives the verse a whole different meaning from the blind literalism of "stupid people should be beaten with a stick."

I've always felt there should be a separate prison for stupid people - I tell my dd all the time when we watch the show Cops, that person needs to be put in Stupid People's Prison. I think it's somehow cruel and unusual punishment for the regular criminal element to have to be subjected to having to deal with the stupid criminal element.

 

[BlueTrain]

Uh, I don't want to ask a dumb question but, is there going to be some kind of Bible test before, well, you know. If there is, I think most people only study the first four or five pages and skip most of the rest. I had the impression that a bumper sticker of an American flag was just about all you needed.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it's unfortunate that people aren't as familiar with the Bible as they used to be -- whether or not you believe in it as an inspired book, it's full of cultural references and turns of phrase that are a foundational part of our language and our literature.

Being able to rote-quote "prooftexts" in support of some doctrine or other isn't Biblical literacy, and it's unfortunate that it's used that way by people who profess to respect it -- such abuse of the book puts off many, many people from ever having any interest in wanting to know more about it. It's the same way people debase the flag by reducing it to nothing more than a cheap political symbol.

 

[dh66]

The Bible and the Constitution of the United States.....the two most highly revered documents here in the land of the free, and simultaneously the two least read.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[EngProf]

I think it's unfortunate that people aren't as familiar with the Bible as they used to be -- whether or not you believe in it as an inspired book, it's full of cultural references and turns of phrase that are a foundational part of our language and our literature.

Being able to rote-quote "prooftexts" in support of some doctrine or other isn't Biblical literacy, and it's unfortunate that it's used that way by people who profess to respect it -- such abuse of the book puts off many, many people from ever having any interest in wanting to know more about it. It's the same way people debase the flag by reducing it to nothing more than a cheap political symbol.

It's not just the Bible, it's the classics in general. I recently read a book about Judge Parker, the famous "Hanging Judge" from Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
It related an incident in which, after the Judge sentenced a bank-robber and murderer to hang, the criminal then cursed out the Judge using a Biblical and a Classical reference. In those days even serious criminals from the backwoods of Oklahoma/Indian-Territory knew enough to use such references.

 

[tonyb]

Don't spill ground-meat in jelly on your homes desk chair...

Sage advice.

 

[Joe50's]

found a new annouyance today after getting a 20's sessions ebony coloumned mantle clock up and running. it strikes the gong and bell 1 minute late. i had only seen it running in the store when i bought it years ago, and it had issues running at the time so i never noticed the strike. from research it is common on american clocks and can be fixed if your willing to risk breaking the mech. it runs good and keeps time so i will just learn to live with it.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Two words: bar soap. For decades bar soap was a relatively simple affair that came in a thick rectangular or oval-shape. Then someone cooked up the word "ergonomic", the soap producing companies carved 25-45% off of their soap bars, and sold them for the same price explaining that the new shape was easier to use. Remember all those hours you spent complaining about how difficult it was to use bar soap before they changed the shape? Yeah, me neither.

Germany:
Bad: Palmolive got down to 90g-bars

Good: All others got still their classic 100g/125g/150g-bars.

 

[PeterB]

It's not just the Bible, it's the classics in general. I recently read a book about Judge Parker, the famous "Hanging Judge" from Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
It related an incident in which, after the Judge sentenced a bank-robber and murderer to hang, the criminal then cursed out the Judge using a Biblical and a Classical reference. In those days even serious criminals from the backwoods of Oklahoma/Indian-Territory knew enough to use such references.

This topic about biblical knowledge is interesting. Professors of literature talk about "shared experience literature". The Bible used to be the main shared experience literature, meaning the one that most people knew about, so it was used as a reference point in popular and high-brow writing, alike. This meant that literature at all levels was more or less accessible to everyone. I am not sure why, but today not very many people are aware of biblical references and as EngProf wrote, above, other classics. It makes communication harder, because one cannot assume that readers / listeners will know what one is talking about. Examples include Noah's flood, as an example of rain, Jonah and the whale, the patience of Job. Believers and non-believers alike would have known, back in about 1950, what one was talking about.

 

[BlueTrain]

I do not believe any religious doctrine turns on the different interpretation or translation of a single word. The constitution, however, does not seem to be the same way. I hesitate to give an example, however. I just think people are looking for loopholes, especially concerning the Bible.

Something that always sounds strange to me is how people who drive vehicles that cost forty or fifty thousand dollars complain about the price of gasoline.

 

[Fading Fast]

found a new annouyance today after getting a 20's sessions ebony coloumned mantle clock up and running. it strikes the gong and bell 1 minute late. i had only seen it running in the store when i bought it years ago, and it had issues running at the time so i never noticed the strike. from research it is common on american clocks and can be fixed if your willing to risk breaking the mech. it runs good and keeps time so i will just learn to live with it. View attachment 54835

That is a beautiful clock. As an owner of many vintage items - clocks and watches included - I can only offer up my own experience which is as long as these things work close to on time, call it a victory. Most of my old watches and clocks run a little fast or slow, etc. Almost all vintage things have their quirks (my three speed fan's lever confidently clicks to each of the three settings as the fan blithely blows at one speed no matter what, for example). It's a beautiful clock, it runs and gongs close to on time - call it victory, enjoy it and move on.

 

[BobHufford]

Something that always sounds strange to me is how people who drive vehicles that cost forty or fifty thousand dollars complain about the price of gasoline.

My late mother-in-law would drive her $60K+ GMC Yukon Denali clear across town to save 2-cents on gas. Since she never let it get below a half a tank she was saving less than 50-cents. Probably burned that much gas getting there and back.

My wife is sort of the same way. She can spend $1000 dollars easier than she can spend $1.00.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Failing that it's amazing what you can pick up from just a good interlinear translation and a copy of Smith's Bible Dictionary. For example, there's five different Hebrew words translated "fool," each describing a specific kind of folly, and that nuance is lost in just about every English translation, who reduce each different word to "fool" or "stupid." A fool who refuses to recognize properly-exercised authority and a fool who gives himself over to heedless self-indulgence aren't necessarily the same kind of fool. The fool described in the above verse is the latter kind, which gives the verse a whole different meaning from the blind literalism of "stupid people should be beaten with a stick."

I've a copy of both Young's and Strong's concordances in my library (unless I've lent them out and never got them back: I'd have to check). They're great for the layperson who wants to do a little study on their own. But I wouldn't give you a nickel for a pulpiteer who claims to "preach only the Bible and nothing but the Bible" (You know the insufferable type: they lay awake at night in perpetual fear that someone, somewhere, might actually be enjoying life.) but can't read an extant manuscript in the original language of any of the books of his particular canon. Akin to a self- proclaimed expert on Goethe or Schiller who cannot glean the nuance of their writings in the original German.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I do not believe any religious doctrine turns on the different interpretation or translation of a single word. The constitution, however, does not seem to be the same way. I hesitate to give an example, however. I just think people are looking for loopholes, especially concerning the Bible.

The main difference between interpreting the Constitution of the United States and the Bible is that the original autographs of the books of the Bible- in whichever of the eight or so canon of books or portion of books that various Christian traditions have embraces over the last 17 centuries- do not exist. All we have are ancient extant manuscripts: and if you look at the ones that predate the middle of the 4th Century C.E. (complete manuscripts and fragments) there are between 200,000 and 400,000 textual variations - depending on which manuscripts are included- of identical passages of the same book! See the problem with dogmatically exclaiming, "The word of God says___?"

Contra, we have the original manuscript of the Constitution: in the National Archives. And we have over two centuries of court cases - Federal and state- interpreting its text. Determining what any portion thereof "means" in any particular case, from the Preamble to the XXVII Amendment, is made more difficult because meaning is gleaned more through legal precedent than the actual text.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That is a beautiful clock. As an owner of many vintage items - clocks and watches included - I can only offer up my own experience which is as long as these things work close to on time, call it a victory. Most of my old watches and clocks run a little fast or slow, etc. Almost all vintage things have their quirks (my three speed fan's lever confidently clicks to each of the three settings as the fan blithely blows at one speed no matter what, for example). It's a beautiful clock, it runs and gongs close to one time - call it victory, enjoy it and move on.

I got my great-grandparents' Sonora chime clock from 1911 for a Christmas present from my mother a few years back, and after cleaning fifty years of dust out of the mechanism I got it running. But it does the same thing with the chimes -- they sound at a minute after the hour. And the speed of the clock varies according to the weather -- it'll speed up on a dry day and slow down when it's humid. Then again, the world in 1911 didn't run on a split-second basis, so I don't imagine that would be considered much of a problem. It's reasonably accurate, which is fine with me.