Whoa, the Google Ngram Viewer databases have been updated! They now incorporate usages right up through 2019. When did that happen? As I recall, the English-language database recently stopped somewhere in the aughts. Or maybe the last update was through 2015. The previous database segment for English appears to be 2012–2015. Never used the NgramContinue reading “Ngram Viewer and the human condition”
Monthly Archives: July 2020
Two pathologies of loyalty
Loyalty is a good thing, right? Word history that I did not know until just now (thank you, Merriam-Webster): English “loyal” derives from Old French leel or leial, which in turn derives from Latin legalis. How do you get from “legal” to “loyal”? Apparently the oldest sense of “loyalty” has to do with unswerving allegianceContinue reading “Two pathologies of loyalty”
Psalm 55:6: Wings like a—pigeon?
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!for then would I fly away, and be at rest. King James Version I said, “If only I had wings;like a pigeon I could fly and dwell somewhere.” Goldingay, The First Testament My first reaction: Gak, a pigeon? “Dwell somewhere”? Rat with wings. Mismatched diction.Continue reading “Psalm 55:6: Wings like a—pigeon?”
Fauci, Trump, and the possibility of progress in knowledge and in morals
See the Washington Post article linked and excerpted below. It demonstrates, again, that the whimperer has no brains, no morals, and bad ratings. Thank heaven he has clothes. (I apologize for whatever mental image I just caused you to glimpse.) I like Fauci more and more. See the last two of the paragraphs I haveContinue reading “Fauci, Trump, and the possibility of progress in knowledge and in morals”
Who is the fool who has said in his heart, there is no God?
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.God looked down from heaven upon the children of men,to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none thatContinue reading “Who is the fool who has said in his heart, there is no God?”
Mask politics
Share my opinion? I think wearing a mask in public spaces is a good idea under our current circumstances. Why should expressing my opinion on this question feel political? In the sense of political = partisan/pushy. It shouldn’t, but it does. And why should we think “partisan/pushy” when we hear the word “political”? We areContinue reading “Mask politics”
It’s not always about John Calvin; or, What’s God got to do, got to do with it?
There’s a lot of anti-Calvinism out there. I guess there’s also a lot of Calvinism. People love bashing predestination. Or other Calvinist expressions of the essential importance of the sovereignty of God. And other people like promoting those things. Closely related: there is much controversy over universalism—the idea that in the end, all will beContinue reading “It’s not always about John Calvin; or, What’s God got to do, got to do with it?”
America, be what you are!
I am appalled but not surprised when President Trump asserts that people who want to make America live up to its promise are people who hate America and want to destroy it. After all, he himself, after his own perverse understanding of the definition of good, wants to “make America great again,” which inevitably impliesContinue reading “America, be what you are!”
God gets refractory, haughty brought down
I really admire people who are always on an even keel, don’t you? They are grounded, centered. They know who they are, which means they know where they stand vis-à-vis God: lower, but accepted and loved. They tend to know, as well as any of us can, where they stand with other people, and theyContinue reading “God gets refractory, haughty brought down”
The year of f/u
When I was a kid, we had Nixon. His first election was 1968, when I was 10. His reelection was 1972. Of course after that he went down because the Watergate event ended up unwrapping him and putting his deeper character on display. We thought he was one thing—a bulwark against communism abroad, a bulwarkContinue reading “The year of f/u”
Verba Sparsa 