ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 40 of 91

G is for things beginning with G

I suppose I could have gone with gray.

Leslie, part of our ABC Wednesday team, posted this on Facebook. I’m lazy enough to stretch it into a whole blog post.

“The last name game: Use the first letter of your last name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up.”

1. Last name? Green.

2. An animal? Giraffe. I could have gone with one of these, but it was the first thing I thought of.

3. A boy’s name: George. The obvious choice, other names notwithstanding. My wife and daughter’s distant relative is Prince George of Cambridge. Plus, for some sort of linguistic reason, it is the name I’m most often mistakenly called.

4. A girl’s name: Gina. The first name that came to mind, as opposed to these.

5. An occupation?: Ghostwriter. I think I could do that. Here are other options.

6. A color? Green. I suppose I could have gone with gray. Actually, I couldn’t.

7. Something you wear? Glasses, because I do. I almost went with gloves, which I also wear a good deal of the time. Or galoshes, which I think is a funny word. Some other choices.

8. A beverage? Green tea. Since I don’t like gin, all my obvious choices had two words – ginger ale (drink it when I’m sick), grape juice (reminds me of Communion), grapefruit juice (drank in lieu of orange juice in the 1970s). More ideas.

9. A food? Green grapes. Grapefruit, graham crackers, and green beans were contenders. Other options, though adding “grilled” to food I think is a bit of a cheat.

10. Something found in the bathroom? Germs. Literally, the only thing that came to mind. Hadn’t thought of these.

11. A place? Greenland. There are, of course, tons of these, so I limited the list to countries. I first thought of Greece but settled for my homeland. Here are other countries.

12. A reason you’re late? Gridlock. Again, my first consideration. From this roster, the best ones start with the word “got” … a flat tire, in an accident.

13. Something you shout? Gadzooks. Seriously, the initial thing that came to mind, and there are plenty on this list that I have said far more often, including gosh, groovy, go away, get out, get away from me, goal, golly, Gesundheit, and good grief.

14. Something you hate? Greed. Didn’t find a list I liked. Gossip is another option. I suppose the universe of G things might apply.

15. A band? Green Day. There are lots of them, and Genesis, the first book in the Bible, actually came first to mind. Or the Go-Go’s, who I saw perform a few decades ago. Or something from this compendium. But let’s pretend that I’m as GREEN obsessed as I feign to be.

A song from those three groups, the ones I most associate with each group:

Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

The Go Go’s – We Got the Beat

Green Day – American Idiot

ABC Wednesday – Round 17

F is for Forgiveness

Bud Welch, whose daughter died in the OKC bombing, developed a bond with Bill McVeigh, Tim’s father.

Forgiveness is “the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.” Forgiveness is not always easy.

About a dozen years ago in Albany, NY, I witnessed an extraordinary event: four men touched by violence, coming out to speak against the death penalty. Bill Babbitt, seeing his mentally ill brother Manny, who he had turned in to the authorities, executed for murder; David Kaczynski, who turned in HIS brother Ted, the Unabomber; Gary Wright, who himself was almost killed by Ted Kaczynski; and Bud Welch.

They all had compelling stories, but Bud’s moved me the most. In April 1995, his “23-year-old daughter, Julie Marie, was killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City along with 167 others… In 2001 Timothy McVeigh was executed for his part in the bombing.”

Bud Welch’s story shows up in that Jesus for President book I’ve been reading:

He said he went through a period of rage when he wanted Timothy McVeigh to die. But he remembered the words of his daughter, who had been an advocate for reconciliation against the death penalty. She used to say, “Execution teaches hatred.” It wasn’t long before Bud had decided to interrupt the circle of hatred and violence and arranged a visit with McVeigh’s family. Bud said he grew to love them dearly, and to this day says he “has never felt closer to God” than in that union.

He decided to travel around the country, speaking about reconciliation and against the death penalty, which teaches that some people are beyond redemption. And he pleaded for the life of Timothy McVeigh. As he worked through his anger and confusion, he began to see that the spiral of redemptive violence must stop with him. And he began to look into the eyes of Timothy McVeigh, the murderer, and see the image of God. He longed for him to experience love, grace, and forgiveness. Bud believes in the scandal of grace.

Read about how Bud developed a bond with Bill McVeigh, Tim’s father, HERE.

Bud’s narrative I also found on a page called The Forgiveness Project, which uses the process of restorative justice to try to heal both the victim and the perpetrator of wrongs.

Similarly, I came across Project Forgive, which was initially sparked by a different kind of tragedy, a man’s wife and two children being killed by a drunk driver.

The Mayo Clinic notes that forgiveness is good for your health. Forgiveness can lead to:
Healthier relationships
Greater spiritual and psychological well-being
Less anxiety, stress, and hostility
Lower blood pressure
Fewer symptoms of depression
Stronger immune system
Improved heart health
Higher self-esteem

But as I mentioned at the outset, forgiveness is not always easy…

ABC Wednesday – Round 17

E is for epiphanot

Apparently, epiphanot is a made-up word. By that, I mean not yet broadly accepted in dictionaries. But it is a good one, and used widely, though I hadn’t heard of it until Uthaclena shared it with me.

The Urban Dictionary cites the definition above, then uses a quote from the movie Animal House to make the point.

The Collins Dictionary has this definition pending: “[facetious] a false or underwhelming epiphany.” It seems in keeping with the generally agreed-upon meaning and shows its derivation, and by extension, its pronunciation, presumably with the emphasis on the second syllable.

Verbotomy has a somewhat different take: “n. An out-of-body, or out-of-brain, experience which occurs when faced with a demanding intellectual challenge. v. To lose your train of thought while trying to demonstrate your intellectual prowess.” I think this is less in keeping with my understanding of the word.

ABC Wednesday – Round 17

C is for comic strip word creation: sealioning

“Sea-Lioning is an Internet slang term referring to intrusive attempts at engaging an unwilling debate opponent…”

There’s a nifty comic strip called Wondermark, which began in April 2003, created by David Malki ! -yes, he spells his name with an exclamation point. “It’s considered an honorific, and used in the same manner as ‘Jr.’ or ‘Ph.D.’: there’s a single space before it. The exclamation point is not pronounced — though many have tried, often with hilarious results.”

He released The Terrible Sea Lion in September 2014, and it became an instant sensation. Less than a month later, “Sea Lion” had been verbed.

In October, it was initially adopted by gamers as “the experience of posting about #Gamergate and then being haunted by endlessly persistent entitled jerks.”

By December, the meaning had expanded. From Know Your Meme: “Sea-Lioning is an Internet slang term referring to intrusive attempts at engaging an unwilling debate opponent by feigning civility and incessantly requesting evidence to back up their claims.” Here’s why sealioning is bad.

The Encyclopedia Dramatica explains How to Troll Someone by “Sealioning”

Basically just calmly and politely question every single thing a person says and don’t stop. Make no assertions but refuse to leave them alone until they rage-quit. Don’t give them any excuse to say you are mad or accuse you of harassment, but respond to everything they say in a drawn-out fashion like a pseudointellectual 13-year old boy and end it with a request to further explain the contradictions in their position. This may not sound like trolling but it drives some people… mad.

I have been subject to that in my Times Union newspaper blog from time to time, but never here, even when the content was EXACTLY the same.

(Hat tip to Daniel Van Riper.)

David writes: “You can feel free to re-post any comics from this site on your blog, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. without asking permission, so long as you include a link back to wondermark.com as well!

ABC Wednesday – Round 17

B is for The Disputation of Barcelona

“The Jews were forced to listen to the sermons preached by the Dominican friars. “

Here’s something I’ve only known about for a few weeks.

“The Disputation of Barcelona (July 20–24, 1263) was a formal ordered medieval debate between representatives of Christianity and Judaism regarding whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.” Apparently, these disputations, over matters of faith, and other important topics, took place from time to time.

“Martin Luther opened the Protestant Reformation by demanding a disputation upon his 95 theses, 31 October 1517. Although presented as a call to an ordinary scholastic dispute, the oral debate never occurred.”

The Barcelona disputation “was held at the royal palace of King James I of Aragon in the presence of the King, his court, and many prominent ecclesiastical dignitaries and knights, between Dominican Friar Pablo Christiani, a convert from Judaism to Christianity, and Rabbi Nahmanides (Ramban), a leading medieval Jewish scholar, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator.

“During the Middle Ages, there were numerous ordered disputations between Christians and Jews. They were not free and authentic debates (like modern ones), but were mere attempts by Christians to force conversion on the Jews. They were connected with burnings of the Talmud at the stake and violence against Jews. The Disputation of Barcelona was unique, in that it was the only occasion on which the Jewish representative was allowed to speak freely.”

So it sounded like a respite from the general persecution of the Jews on religious grounds, and the rigging of the system. However, the aftermath, according to the Jewish Virtual Library:

The [Barcelona] disputation… prompted the Dominican Raymond Martini to devise a better method of providing christological interpretations to the aggadah. In 1280 Martini concluded his book Pugio Fidei (Paris, 1651), and henceforward it was used indiscriminately by every Christian controversialist wishing to invalidate Judaism.

The king cooperated with missionary activities throughout the realm and the Jews were forced to listen to the sermons preached by the Dominican friars. An order was issued by the latter between August 26 and 29 directing the Jews to erase from their copies of the Talmud any passages vilifying Jesus and Mary. Failure to do so was punishable by a fine, and books which had not been censored as required would be burned…

This was, functionally, a less bloody event of the centuries-long Inquisition, “one of the great blights on the history of Christianity.”

And what, you may reasonably ask, piqued my interest in this arcane topic? It was the death of the actor Christopher Lee at the age of 93 in early June 2015. A Facebook friend posted a reference to The Disputation, a 1986 TV movie starring Lee as King James of Aragon.

Better still, you can watch the hour-long drama here or here.

ABC Wednesday – Round 17