It may preach, but it’s not correct!

undressed kid skin, 1884, from gants de Suède (1859), lit. “gloves of Sweden,” from Fr. Suède “Sweden.”

Etymonline.com scores again!

photo credit: Quasimondo

If Jesus is the redemptor and Mary is called by some a co-redemptrix and…

if a man who dominates is a dominator while a woman who does the same is a dominatrix and…

if a waiter can also be called a server,

can you call your waitress a servix?

“Hi, my name’s Tammy and I’ll be your servix today.”

What you reckon?

Let’s make like a shepherd and get the flock out of here.

Wednesdays are like celebrations after a long-fought battle.

A good book is like cuddling with your snickerdoodle, you don’t wanna pull yourself away.

Writing is like trying to catch money in one of those money-blower machine thingys; like the money, your thoughts are coming so fast, you can’t catch them all.

English 101 is like Monty Python; sometimes funny, other times, you are just confused and want to turn it off.

I am like Andorra.

Headaches are like that yappy dog you just wanna kick.

Salsa without chips is like salmon without a river.

College is like waking up everyday only to be punched in the face.

Today I would like to talk about talking about blogging. There seems to be some confusion. I hear people, most commonly professors at my school, refer to individual blog posts as a blog. This is not only incorrect but misleading. Consider the following:

“Yesterday I read a new blog by Al Mohler.”

Upon hearing this phrase I immediately begann to wonder whether Al Mohler had started blogging at a new location other than albertmohler.com because “blog” and “a blog” usually refer, in a collective sense, to an entire set of blog posts. For example, you are reading my blog at KataDrew.com. Specifically, you are reading a (blog) post entitled “How to Talk About Blogs” on my blog KataDrew. You are not reading a new blog on my blog. That is imprecise, for I only have one blog and it is at KataDrew.com. My blog is, however, made up of many posts.

Posts are the specific, individual units which make up a blog. Remember that the word “blog” is simply short for weblog (“web” + “log”). Blogs therefore do not make up blogs but posts make up blogs. Note in the images to the right the usage of the word “post” in one blogging platform’s administration section (WordPress).

One possible exception is an aggregated group blog such as Said at Southeastern (sebts.blogspot.com) which aggregates posts from several different blogs to make up it’s own blog in a sense, though it doesn’t have its own posts. Still, you’ll want to refer to a post you read on Said at Southeastern not a blog you read on Said at Southeastern. But, you could say that you found a blog through Said at Southeastern and read one of its posts.

So to rephrase the initial example to be precise you’ll want to say something like:

“Yesterday I read a new post on Al Mohler’s blog.”

Or

“Yesterday I read a new post by Al Mohler.”

Or

“Yesterday I read on Al Mohler’s blog a post about…”

May this help you avoid not only a personal pet peeve of mine, but imprecise language attendant with using “blog” to refer to both a blog and a post on a blog.

Why love all languages?

The point has been made that the reason people from every tribe, language, people and nation are seen worshiping around Jesus’ throne in Revelation 5 is because people from every tribe, language, people and nation will find him all-satisfying. In other words, what is special about the one true God is that people from every ethnicity and tongue find in him what they need and they worship. God is therefore not a tribal deity whose “splendor” is seen by a select, remote view, but he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and his Son is the One through whom all that has its existence was created (John 1:3).

Analogy: If I design a pair of shoes and only people in West Virginia like them, I won’t be a failure, but I won’t be a complete success either. However, as in the case of Nike, if I can design shoes that are desired and praised by people all over the world, that points to a superior shoe. A diverse body recognizes its value.

By his blood Jesus ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5:9). This is their “new song” (Rev. 5:9a), praising this act. The answer then as to why to love all languages is because God loves all languages and ransomed people from every language by the blood of his Son. Moreover, the telos of each of those languages is to find praise and adoration for the Lamb who was slain and is worthy on the lips of the ransomed speakers.

The Christian has another reason to love languages: because the Scriptures were written in other languages (i.e., not English). Consequently, since I know you’ve heard of sermon jams, you’ll want to give the John Chapter 1 Jam herein linked a listen (featuring John 1:1-3 from the Greek New Testament and the Latin Vulgate courtesy of GreekLatinAudio.com [sorry, maybe one with Hebrew will be forthcoming]).

[xspf]_start(FALSE, ‘order=18&mode=1′)[/xspf]

Long live philology!

1. Damsons – a Eurasian plum
2. Damask – a flowery decorative

That’s all.

1. First, I’m not overly interested in taking the Lord’s name in vain or blaspheming. Generally, I try to avoid it.
2. “Gosh” or “golly jee” or “jeepers creepers” are just euphemisms, saying ‘well’ what you’d really like to say.
3. I have a (seminary!) professor who says “oh my god” and “god” flippantly. Can’t stand it; appalled, to say the least.
4. Gandhi is multisyllabic. You can stretch it out in true moments of angst. Gannnn-dhi!
5. Gandhi is no one’s deity; just a surname. It’s therefore less likely that someone will be offended by taking Gandhi’s name in vain.
6. Overall annoyance at hearing “oh my god” used so flippantly. “Oh my Gandhi” is a cause for pause. It scores minor uniqueness points.
7. Finally, humans (homo loquens) need a word or phrase which can be used to express frustration or angst. All languages have such words. My idiolect employs “Gandhi.”

…the phrase “nip it in the bud” was “nip it in the butt”

…tupperware was actually tubberware

Just two examples of things you gots to figure out on your own.