PARVUM OPUS
Number 259
January 3, 2008
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SHAKE SPEAR
Richard Lederer sent the more thorough
explanation of Shakespeare and the 46th psalm:
In 1610, the year of the most intensive
work on the translation, Shakespeare was forty-six years old. Given this clue,
we turn to the Forty-sixth Psalm as it appears in the King James Bible. Count
down to the forty-sixth word from the beginning and then count up to the
forty-sixth word from the end, excluding the cadential Selah:
God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the
earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled,
though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof. Selah.
There is a river, the streams whereof
shall make glad the city of God,
the holy place of the tabernacle of the
Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall
not be moved:
God shall help her, and that right
early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were
moved:
he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God
of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
what desolations he hath made on earth;
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of
the earth;
he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear
in sunder;
he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God:
I will be exalted among the heathen, I
will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God
of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
If you counted accurately, your finger
eventually lit upon the two words shake and spear. Shakespeare.
Whether or not he created the majesty of the forty-sixth psalm, he is in it.
Whether the embedded shake spear is a purposeful plant or the product of
happy chance, the name of the world's most famous poet reposes cunningly in the
text of the world's most famous translation.
(In the slightly earlier
Douay-Rheims translation, the words shake and spear do not
appear.) Since there’s no record of Shakespeare working with the KJV
translation committee, I wonder who first came up with this bit of
cryptography?
And I’ve always wondered
about “Selah”; yourdictionary.com says:
a Hebrew word of unknown meaning at the
end of verses in the Psalms: perhaps a musical direction, but traditionally
interpreted as a blessing meaning “forever”
Other dictionaries offer
different possible meanings, some pertaining to musical pauses. Dick Lederer’s
“cadential” has a nice cadence.
LADIES GLOW
Kathy T. wrote vis a
vis “blush” vs. “rouge”:
Do you remember that crayon nobody ever
liked? I think it was called burnt orange. We have an elementary school teacher
here that wears that shade of "glow" and by the way, also complements
it with the up-to-the-eyebrow blue eyeshadow. What is it that you would call
"burnt orange blush"? Could it be "Blazing Sunset" instead
of the usual generic "Rose"? I have never seen a "blush"
the color of hers ever in my life until my son started school there. If we
could call the eyeshadow something like "Ocean Blue" and we add the
"Blazing Sunset", we would have a postcard from the beach image.
In a way, I admire manic
makeup. It shows a hopeful nature. Blue eyeshadow was considered the depth of
tacky for years but I believe it snuck (sneaked?) back in the bruised or
heroin-addict look. I’d like to have a job naming makeup colors. I did in fact
dream up a line of transparent nail colors to be called Cellophane, and I had
some fun naming the various shades. I think there was a Beach Glass, but I
can’t recall the others.
BANISHED WORDS
Lake Superior State
University announced the 2008 Banished
Words List. I have to disagree with two entries, waterboarding and the
surge. I think people are just tired of hearing about the war, but these are
pretty specific terms, not easily replaced. The surge could have been called
something else, but it wasn’t, and now it refers to a specific military
build-up and change of tactics in a specific time and place. Waterboarding is
pretty specific too. It does sound like a sport, but what else are you going to
call it?
STUPIDITY FILTER
Dave DaBee tipped me to
the Stupidity Filter Project,
mentioned on Bad Language. The Stupid
Filter Project would filter faulty or poor use of English. I guess I’d be out
of my unpaid job, then. Bad Language is a more useful site.
Dave also contributed a
couple more nuggets: He heard people on NPR misuse between. For example,
you say “between January 1 and January 3” but “from
January 1 to January 3” (not “between January 1 to January 3” or “from
January 1 and January 3”; if you use a dash, you don’t use either between
or from). It’s a matter of logic. Dave expects more from NPR.
He also heard someone
from the Society for the Preservation of the
Queen’s English ~ it must have been Albert Tudor-Smythe, president of
S.P.E.C.S. and a very great man ~ offer to be BBC’s grammar police. When asked
if that wouldn’t annoy a lot of people, he said, “Damn them!” Hail Britannia!
NEW YEAR’S DAY CARTOONS
On New Year’s Day the
local paper suddenly dropped some cartoons and substituted some others. The
great loss is Agnes
by Tony Cochran, but we’ve
gained Dilbert daily and Get Fuzzy. Two January 1 strips fooled
around with words:
In Get Fuzzy, the cat came
up with dinnerfying, session de chew, and eatification for
dinner; he said his editor was smartastic; and the dog said the cat
wanted him to call the waffle iron the waffle hottie.
In Frazz, a kid made a clever
point:
If I have myself an orange juice every
new year's morning, it's a tradition.
If I have an orange juice every single
morning, it's a routine.
If I leave the glass in the living room
twice, apparently it's a habit.
Where is this going?
If I gripe about the language instead
of about my control-freak mom, it's a diversion.
I guess a tradition has
some meaning or ritual attached; a routine is purposeful; a habit could be good
or bad, but may not be thought out. Do you have any traditions? If so, how many
repetitions are necessary for something to become a tradition?
EDUCATION UPDATES
Bumper sticker: “Pre-school is not bootcamp for kindergarten!” I didn’t get it but it was such a forceful statement that I looked it up and sure enough, the phrase appears on numerous web pages. It’s about making too many demands on pre-schoolers. Too much scheduling, too many goals.
Another interesting mini-seminar thanks to Hugh Hewitt,
December 31 and January 1: 3 1/2 hours on the history of ideas in the West by
Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry Arnn,
recorded 6 years ago. He also explains the scope and purposes of a traditional
liberal education. Example of an interesting idea that’s new to me: “The
Hebrews wandered the desert 40 years after their release from Egypt, partly to
work the slavishness out of them so they’d be worthy of the promised land.”
Some time ago I started posting Parvum Opus on a blog as well as on my web site, just because blogs are done now. I didn’t think anyone read it (besides, the formatting is out of my control), but today I got an e-mail about PO 256 Tunavision, and not from a regular reader. It was, perhaps, a form letter, from the Muslims Against Sharia blog. (The letter does not appear as a comment in my blog.) In the Tunavision PO, I mentioned the British teacher in Sudan who allowed her students to name a teddy bear Mohammed. Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
Most of the Western Muslim establishment is comprised of Islamist groups claiming to be moderates. True moderate Muslims reject Islamic supremacy and Sharia; embrace religious equality and democracy.... Muslims Against Sharia compiled a list of issues that differentiate moderate Muslims from Islamic radicals. Hopefully you can help us grow this list.
I consider this an encouraging sign. I don’t know who is behind this Reform Islam web site, but it’s posted
in Swedish and Russian as well as English. Take a look.
By the way, did you know that Mahmoud Ahminajihadmood has a blog? Seriously.
______________________________________________
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County, West Virginia. See Editor Bob Weaver's interview with me (February 10,
2007 entry), and the PO every week in Columns.
WHEN SONNY GETS BLUE! Check out the video clips of Sonny Robertson and the Howard Street Blues Band at http://www.sonnyrobertson.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/rondaria, with his new original song, "A Different Shade of Blue".
SEARCH
IT OUT ON AMAZON : "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but
the honour of kings is to search out a matter." Proverbs 25:2; "Get wisdom!
Even if it costs you everything, get understanding!" Proverbs 4:7:
The poet Muriel Rukeyser said the universe is not composed
of atoms, but stories. The physicist Werner Heisenberg said the universe is not
made of matter, but music.
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