Posted by
peripheral on Thursday, July 22, 2010 6:05:13 AM
From My Perspective - - -
The English Language is both fascinating and curious. We select words
and attach definition and meaning to them that was never the original
intent of the word. Most recently, we have heard the words of ridicule
toward Sarah Palin because of her repeated use of a word – “refudiate”!
The Urban Dictionary seizes on the moment to define “refudiate” and
states: “When Sarah Palin decides regular English words aren't good
enough, she'll just go ahead and make a new one. Here, “refudiate”
bridges the gap between "refuse" and "repudiate", to mean exactly what
she wants it to mean…or - to really tell someone off.” She used this
word in a Fox News report when she stated: “The President and his
wife...can refudiate what this group (the NAACP) is saying."
Other coined words that have found entrance into our language are:
Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They are fictional characters in an English
language nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's Through the
Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. The characters are perhaps
best known when Carroll, having introduced two fat little men named
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, quotes the nursery rhyme, which the two
brothers then go on to enact. The Tweedle brothers never contradict
each other but always complement each other's words. The Nursery Rhyme
is - - -
Tweedledum and Tweedledee Agreed to have a battle;
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew down a monstrous crow, As black as a tar-barrel;
Which frightened both the heroes so, They quite forgot their quarrel.
Another of these coined words is: “huddledom.” It was taken from an
article that appeared in The Glasgow Herald in 1923: “The huddledoms of
haunting disease, poverty, and overcrowding.” It means: “A state or
condition of confusion and disorder.” The way our language is used may
qualify as an additional meaning for “huddledom”. Dictionary.com has a
section called: The Hot Word Blog. They ask this question: “What word
do scientists use to describe the most ginormous star ever discovered?”
If there is no applicable word, then how do the Scientists express
themselves? In this case, the answer is: “If you find something that’s
bigger than you thought was physically possible, how would you describe
it? You start with what you already have, which is R136a1, the
equivalent of a cosmic ZIP code. The R stands for Radcliffe
Observatory, which located the star…Massive isn’t the same thing as
”big” in astronomy. Mass is roughly equivalent to weight, and R136a1 is
hefty: it once weighed 320 times as much as our sun - that was when it
was born. Because of its density, the star is unstable and part of its
mass is constantly coming apart…” In this instance, before a word can
be formulated, that which occasioned the quest will have disbursed or
disintegrated.
In the realm of religion, there are many words that are used that tend
to confound and confuse. It may be by design in order to whet one’s
appetite to research the subject at hand. Some of the terms have faded
into the background - such as: “supralapsarianism” versus
“infralapsarianism”. Supra-lapsarianism means “the doctrine that the
decree of election preceded human creation and the Fall”;
Infralapsarianism means the opposite. Defining the terms would require
many words and pages whereas, The Gospel can be explained in more
simple terms. Acts 2 (Peter’s Sermon on The Day of Pentecost) contains
several theological concepts. However, when people became convicted and
asked (Acts 2:37-38): “Now when they heard this they were cut to the
heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what
shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”
Similarly, when The Philippian Jailer asked (Acts 16:30-31): “Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved, you and your household." The Book of Romans
could easily be a theological textbook. When it came to the Gospel and
who can be saved, Paul answered (Romans 10:13): “everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved." No “confusion or disorder” here –
just a simple response by faith! Consider these things with me!