Originally posted by Pulcinella
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Pedants' Paradise
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This is a sticky topic.
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
... which of us is not?
" ... I contain multitudes"
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"For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many."
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
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Affirming rather than swearing an oath. (ff's mention of the KJV put me in mind of this, which I'd spotted this morning.)
This extract (from today's Times) omits to mention that the new Green MP for Bristol Central (replacing the former shadow culture secretary) is a Quaker, and they don't swear oaths either!
Is that your constituency, ff?
Analysis by Humanists UK has found that 249 of the 625 MPs
whose decisions are known chose to affirm. However, the majority of MPs, 338, swore on the Bible, usually the King James version.
There were 14 Muslim MPs, who swore on the Quran, and Rishi
Sunak was one of three MPs to swear on the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book. There are also likely to be a handful of religious MPs, including Tim Farron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats and a Christian, who affirmed because their beliefs prohibit oaths.
The big jump in irreligious MPs was the result of the Labour landslide in which Starmer’s party won 412 MPs. Almost half of Labour MPs — 47 per cent — affirmed, compared with only 9 per cent of Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats, who won a record 72 seats, also had 47 per cent of their MPs make an affirmation.
The Greens are the most irreligious party, with all of their four MPs affirming, and six of the SNP’s nine MPs did the same. One of Nigel Farage’s five Reform MPs affirmed.
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Originally posted by french frank View Post
Was Serial thinking of the King James Bible?
"For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many."
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Originally posted by Pulcinella View PostPhoto caption in today's Sunday Times:
Zoe Hamburger, 39, is an alumnae of the Worldwide Hamburger Marketing University
No, she isn't. But at least they got the gender right, so someone tried....
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
... but perhaps Zoe identified as 'them' - so alumnae a possibility
(That's not as silly a question as it might appear. I got criticised previously for showing my distaste for the use of 'they', which is partly because it results in clumsiness in certain instances, and ambiguities in others, and this seems a prime example of where it goes awry.)Last edited by Pulcinella; 14-07-24, 08:38.
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Originally posted by Pulcinella View PostBut if Zoe is a they, would we not have to have: Zoe are alumnae?It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
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