Archive for October, 2010
Always on the job
Friday, October 29th, 2010Spue
Thursday, October 28th, 2010If a a child of school age or an adult is going to throw up, there is usually time for them to make a run for the toilet, or if riding, demand that the car pull over so they can grace the side of the road.
Younger children (and adults who are intoxicated) are often caught by surprise by the need to vomit and tend to do so dramatically wherever they are.
Many colorful expressions describe such an event. Tamest among them is probably spew. As in, “Honey, the baby just spewed all over the photo album.”
In the Scriptures, the word is not spew, but the older spue. (Okay, “spewing” appears in Habakkuk 2:16, but we won’t go there.)
In Leviticus, spue is used twice to denote people being ejected from a land:
Lev. 18:28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
Lev. 20:22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.
In Revelations there is a passage where, according to the footnote, the Greek word translated as spue means to vomit:
Rev. 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Spue is also used in Jeremiah.
Jer. 25:27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Quoting movies is a happy pastime in our family. Perhaps the most-quoted movie is That Thing You Do. No one can trip without someone saying, “Guys, Chad fell down.”
And in certain situations, it’s hard to resist saying, “I led you here, sir, for I am Spartacus.”
Or, “You. Are. My. Biggest. Fan.”
Or, “Luke? Who’s Luke? When are we getting the records?”
I think that as Latter-day Saints, we should be as clever and adept at referencing and quoting scriptures as we are at movies. When someone throws up, for example, why not impress your friends and say, “Ew, musta been lukewarm.”
And when bringing a pitcher of water or milk or juice to the table, certainly a cheerful, “Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue,” is in order.
And when the baby issues forth upon the photo album, why not proclaim. “Honey, the baby just did Revelations 3:16 all over Aunt Gladis.”
Sabbath healings
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
(Curmudgeonosity?)
Glad as we can be
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
If You Could Hie to Kolob
Monday, October 25th, 2010Several years ago, my daughter, Sofie, wrote an arrangement of “If You Could Hie to Kolob,” which she and my daughter-in-law, Dvorah, sang in sacrament meeting in our ward in Maine.
Though I couldn’t record the actual performance, I was lucky enough to capture one of their rehearsals.
If You Could Hie to Kolob (Click the play button to listen. You can download for free.)
This arrangement is copyrighted by Sofrona Zane.
If You Could Hie to Kolob, 284 – William W. Phelps
1. If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward With that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity,
Find out the generation Where Gods began to be?
2. Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end?
Me thinks the Spirit whispers, “No man has found ‘pure space,’
Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place.”
3. The works of God continue, And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression Have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter; There is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race.
4. There is no end to virtue; There is no end to might;
There is no end to wisdom; There is no end to light.
There is no end to union; There is no end to youth;
There is no end to priesthood; There is no end to truth.
5. There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
There is no end to being; There is no death above.
There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
There is no end to being; There is no death above.
CTR
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
Saith
Thursday, October 21st, 2010My wife and I are reading the Old Testament aloud and have stumbled over many words that are hard to wrap our tongues around. It’s not just the names, such as Jehoiada, and Elioenai, and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, that give us pause. Even simple words can cause problems.
Take saith, for example.
Saith is an archaic third person singular present tense of say. In modern English we—well, not we, unless we were quoting the prophet—we would say “thus says the Lord.”
In a classic case of potato/patahto, my wife reads it as “say-ith” and I, as “seth.”
We’ve never mentioned this difference, though I’m sure it is as evident to her as it is to me.
So, who’s right?
I am. And so is my wife.
In the dictionary, seth is given first. And this pronunciation is used in the MP3s of the Scriptures available on the Church’s website.
However, the dictionary gives say-ith as a second pronunciation.
So however you seth or say-ith it, it’s okay.
Harvest
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Helpful
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
Eliza
Monday, October 18th, 2010Here, from the early 1980s, is a home recording of Eliza, a song I wrote about Eliza R. Snow for my daughter, Eliza Snow. (Click the play button to listen. You can download for free.)
The recording is not very good, but it should give you an idea of how it goes. I reworked the lyric a number of times back then, so what’s written here (below the photo) doesn’t exactly match the recording. One of best edits was changing “A spectrum of coloured light” to “A carousel of coloured light.” If you perform or record this, use carousel.
This song, like the others on this site, is copyrighted by John Governale, but may be performed, recorded, used in your video, copied, posted, linked to, etc. for noncommercial purposes.
Eliza
by John Governale
copyright 1980
Here I sit with your photograph, Eliza,
A slowly fading image
From an antique camera’s eye.
You’re such a rainbow, it makes me laugh, Eliza,
To see you filmed in black and white
Against a grey sky.
It’s late in the evening.
It’s quiet now and I’m
Looking at your photograph
Faded and sublime.
I wish that I could meet you
And we could spend some time.
I often look at your photograph, Eliza.
It doesn’t do you justice,
But it does my heart good.
You’re such a rainbow, it makes me laugh, Eliza,
To see you filmed in black and white
Against a grey wood.
If we could walk together
On an autumn afternoon
Through fields of fallen leaves
With everything in tune,
There’s a thousand things I’d ask you.
The day would end too soon.
Elect Lady, you don’t know me.
You were gone a hundred years
Before I came along.
Elect Lady, if I could be
I’d like to be like you were:
Valiant and strong.
How I love your dear photograph, Eliza.
It fills me with wonder,
It turns me around.
You’re such a rainbow, it makes me laugh, Eliza,
To see you filmed in black and white
Above a grey town.
If we could sit and talk
A quiet morning through
On a yellow tiled veranda
With a flower blossom view,
We could mix our colours
With tears and a laugh or two.
Here I sit with your photograph, Eliza,
A slowly fading image
From an antique camera’s eye.
You’re such a rainbow, it makes me laugh, Eliza,
To see one who shone so bright,
A carousel of coloured light,
Photographed in black and white
Against a grey sky.