Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

In my first year of teaching HS in Skokie (Illinois), I understood that
the observant Jews would be automatically excused for the High Holy
Days.  What a surprise it was, when only 3 people out of my 31 showed up
one day.  That was the first class in the morning.  Some of them may
have come to school later in the morning or in the afternoon.  I think
maybe 15 or so showed up the next day, and some of them sneered a bit
that others were "not that observant", but were taking advantage.  There
were Reformed and Orthodox and I think at least one other level of
Jewish observance that had varying levels of duty to the synagogue.  I
never studied the matter of which day did not require the attendance at
synagogue (has this ever been shortened as in catalog?), and never
thought to question the Jewishness of any of the students who stayed
away on either day.

As a Catholic, I didn't get excused for any of the holy days of
obligation, but a late admission was accepted without question, under
the assumption that our family had attended Mass in the next town over.
Of course, the ashes on the forehead on Ash Wednesday might have set us
off when we made our late entry.

If I may continue the thought on the Omrud's comments, as well as Mike
Lyle's response:  My family reunited after a messy separation in which
we kids were ensiled in a Catholic orphanage for 4 years.  There, we
were all Catholic, and were well instructed in living the life of
saints, with the nuns supervising even our receiving Holy Communion
daily.  Any failure in that brought questioning and even attendance in
the chapel on Friday night (Confession night), to make sure we at least
entered the Confessional.

When the family reunited, we went to live in a small town with no
Catholic Church, so we had to attend services in a town 5 miles away.
While there were a few other Catholics in the school that we attended,
there were none in my class.  At age 13, in eighth grade, starting a new
school in a new town, I was, naturally, all the more self-conscious.
Especially, when, walking to school, we had to pass a particularly
strict Lutheran church and school.  To tell the truth, I would probably
have been more comfortable there than in the public school.

Those kids attended their school through highschool, and had no dances.
The kids could not belong to the Boy Scouts, or the Girl Scouts.  I
think their "scouting" groups were called Pioneers.

Anyway, they called _us_ names as we strolled by.  When I went on to
high school, the kids coming into the public HS all came in as little
cliques of 4 or 5 each, as they had done their elementary classes in
1-room rural schools, some Lutheran, some Catholic, and some publicly
supported.

They all came with some chips on their shoulders, feeling defensive
about their "faith", and possibly suspicious of other first year
students, who might have lived on the next farm over.  I think that
those who had participated in the 4-H programs mixed a bit more easily
with the rest of us "townies".

They rode buses and got to know each other then, so that pretty soon,
the competition and "class consciousness" was not between various grade
schools, but between what bus routes the kids came to school on.

Now, life in small rural towns in the US tended (still does, to some
extent) to revolve around church and school, and gossip really revolved
around them, too.  Television and mass marketing have lessened much of
the feeling of "being different", but every now and then, especially in
eras of stress, the people there tend to fear that their roots are
failing and need replenishing.  Small towns have tended to be the basis
of conservatism, as well as private enterprise.

Oh, my parents were factory workers, union members, and from a different
part of the state entirely, so we had no support groups in that town.
The conservatism of the retired farmers and small-business owners was
not shared by my parents.  So when Eisenhower and the Republicans came
into power, while the rest of the town celebrated, my family became
staunch Democrats--yes, Stevenson and Kefauver were our heroes.  So our
ages, the times we lived in, our economic level, the religion we
practiced, all contributed to the kind of world the baby-boomers were to
become conscious of.

We moved to the town in 1949.

Whew.  That was long, wasn't it?  Sorry.  But it is history, isn't it?

Joining in belatedly:

What you said was "There was no doubt in my mind that I had a choice.
Not with my wife standing next to me."

Together, those two sentences *could*, with a stretch of the imagination
and a disregard for the truth, indicate that you had no real choice in
the matter because your wife was standing next to you. However,
structured the way they are, the two sentences need a word added
somewhere to come up with the meaning you intended.  Maybe the word "no"
before "choice" in the first sentence. Or maybe "but" before "not" in
the second sentence.

(The issue of using two sentences rather than one is debatable, of
course.)

But hey -- this is the holiday season for many of us (Happy Hanukkah,
Merry Christmas, etc.), so I'll end with this: I'm with Skitt and Bob on
the grammatical issue, and with you about ceremonial prayers and the
like.

Maria,
whose Christmas shopping is done (and *way* earlier than usual). The
tree, however, is not up yet. The sooner it's up, the sooner the cats
will be climbing it, unmindful of breakage and thrilled if they manage
to topple the whole business.
Note: There's only one 'n' in my email address, and it's not in my first
name.

I must say that I have heard Tony's usage before and, while I noticed it
immediately, I am surprised that anyone would comment on it.  I suppose,
though I don't use that particular expression, it is more of a
regionalism.

The defense is not based on whether or not the phrasing is, or should
be, understood by all.  The defense is based on the phrasing not being
a mistake in the writing.  The phrasing was intentional.  I meant to
write what I did write.

I'm not saying that this is an example of a particular dialect that
any group of people use.  I am saying that this is the normal way that
I would phrase the thought.  Whether or not I am alone in this is
unknown to me.  

<appreciative laughter>

This one's a keeper, Murray.

No.  In my now-assigned dialect, it means I didn't have a choice.

 

But what if he had written "There was no question in my mind that I had
a choice"?

Isn't "to doubt" an equivalent to "to question"?  Not that Tony needs
any help, but I still say that I didn't find his sentence out of line.

Just last night I watched the movie "Keeping Up With The Steins".
While it's not part of the service, joining hands is certainly part in
dancing "the hora".  (A term I use reluctantly since, as I understand
it, a hora is a medley and an "a" rather than a "the".)

If anyone else has seen the movie, please comment on the size of the
Torah in the movie.  Is this normal, or is this a Brentwood Torah?

It is something that has certainly changed a lot over the last 20 years
or so. I would say that all my friends exchange hugs and kisses these
days, although the kisses are mainly between opposite sexes, thank
heavens. I can't imagine any of them doing this back in the 60s.

The mistake you made was of the same sort of level of ignorance of
the world around you as it would be not to know the difference
between Shias and Sunnis.

And no doubt George Bush didn't care a WHitsuntide about the
difference between Shias and Sunnis.

Yes, Bush may not have cared, but he'd be in a less of a mess in Iraq
if he'd paid more attention to it.

Why is it that you allow yourself to dislike these things but you
think me a hyprocite when I state I dislike them?

Oh good. Perhaps you haven't twigged yet that a lot of this sort of
thing I post is MEANT to make people like you go mad and froth.

Matthew Huntbach