Merry Christmas

Peace on the Earth

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Christmas is all around. Remember hearing the above phrase sometime near Christmas quite many years ago, thus google for its source. It turns out to be the text of the following Gospels. 

Ignorance is a bliss. Gone were the days which the faithful could remain faithful by simply listening to the preacher. Nonetheless faith seldom comes from reading the Bible, though some maybe confirmed by it. And vice versa. 

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:34-39 NASB)

"I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." (Luke 12:49-53 NASB)

Subscribed to OED on-line through HKU Library a few months ago. Not too much time to actually bother consulting it, but in each occassion it gives me great pleasure exploring unexpected meanings and interesting quotes of the words in the English language.

Today, just discovered that 'elegant' may have a negative meaning, and man are advised by the wise Barclay not to be 'such elegant toys that wanton women may incline'. Yeah, this is the no. 1 definition of 'elegant' in the 23-volume Oxford English Dictionary.

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elegant, a.

1. Tastefully ornate in attire; sometimes in unfavourable sense: Dainty, foppish.

1509 BARCLAY Ship of Fooles (1570) 113:
It is .. not for man to be so elegant, To such toyes wanton women may encline.


"Oxford English Dictionary"

On her way to the city, Dorothy meets a Scarecrow with no brain, a Tin Man with no heart and a Cowardly Lion. The three decide to accompany Dorothy to the Wizard in hopes of obtaining their desires. Along the way, they behave in various ways which demonstrate that they already have the qualities they think they lack: the Scarecrow has several good ideas, the Tin Man is kind and sympathetic and the Lion is ready to face danger even though he is terrified. The group reaches Emerald City, where they are greeted kindly. The group talks to the Wizard of Oz, a disembodied and imposing head, formed out of steam from a giant cauldron, with a booming voice, who says that he will consider granting their wishes if they can bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch. Upon their return to Emerald City, Toto exposes the great and powerful wizard as a fraud; they find an ordinary man hiding behind a curtain operating a giant console which contains a group of buttons and levers. They are outraged at the deception, but the wizard solves their problems through common sense and a little double talk rather than magic, giving the Scarecrow a head full of bran, pins, and needles ("a lot of bran-new brains"), the Tin Man a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and the Lion a bowl of water poured out from a bottle labeled 'courage'.

Wikipedia