Daily Archives: February 6, 2009

Ignoranus

Supposedly, The Washington Post asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, change one letter, and supply a new definition.

The results are hilarious (got this from a friend on Facebook), so I’m gonna post them here (which one is your favorite?):

Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus : A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until
you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows
little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of
getting laid.

7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the
person who doesn’t get it.

9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon : It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these
really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s
like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day
consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido : All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after
you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.) : Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into
your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in
the fruit you’re eating.

The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its
yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate
meanings for common words.

And the winners are:

1. Coffee , n. The person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted , adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one
has gained.

3. Abdicate , v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4 esplanade , v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly , adj. Impotent.

6. Negligent , adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing
only a nightgown.

7. Lymph , v. To walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle , n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence , n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has
been run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash , n. A rapidly receding hairline..

11. Testicle , n. A humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude , n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by
proctologists.

13. Pokemon , n.. A Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster , n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with
Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism , n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies
up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent , n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by
Jewish men.

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A Really Good Question

Recently, I’ve been in a discussion with one of my friends about William Young’s book The Shack.

My bottom line is that I question our embracing the book.

One of my arguments has been that Young crosses the line in how he describes both God and the cross. Granted, there’s a certain amount of leeway when engaging in allegory and fiction, but I think some of his descriptions stray into “heeeeyyyy….that’s another Jesus entirely” territory.

Anyway, as I was driving tonight, I thought of a possible pushback to what I’ve been saying. It goes something like this:

“Well…God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush, didn’t He? If anything was a stretch, that’s it, but there God is, assuming that form. If He can appear as a burning bush to communicate something about Himself to Moses, shouldn’t it be ok for us to allegorize God as a life-size Aunt Jemima?”

While this doesn’t touch upon my most fervent concerns (ex: what Young does to the cross and the attitude he takes to the Church), it raises a great question: when describing God in *any* genre (fiction or otherwise): where’s the line?

I suppose there does come a point when we’ve overstepped our literary license. Where is that point? I have no interest in splitting hairs and finding *exactly* where the line is, as if I’d use that knowledge in trying to get as close to the line as possible. Nor is this a useless speculative question, like “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” This is about God’s very character…that’s pretty central.

I have no answer to this question. I mean, I have hunches and inclinations, but nothing solid.

So I put the question to you: what do you think?

Is it ok, in fiction, to describe God as, say, a lion? How about a surly, moody teenager? A drunk Pittsburgh steel worker? A repressive, white, grumpy, old man? A 29 year old conservative blogger from California with a chip on his shoulder? ( :) ) An effeminate Asian?…a large, matronly, black woman who loves to cook waffles?

I’m pretty sure some of those are way out of bounds, and I bring them up only for comedic effect. But the bottom line question I don’t have a solid answer on.

One thing for sure: our answer should not be, “we can describe God however we like as long as it benefits us.”

If that’s our answer, our priorities are hopelessly backwards.

BTW, I view conversations like this as incredibly important. Hey, I might be wrong and need to adjust who I think God is. I might need to adjust my approach to several other things (i.e., talking with people I disagree with)…that’s one reason. Plus, we’re not talking about personal preference here, like me trying to discuss someone’s preference for Michigan over Ohio State. This is about eternal things, so it matters.

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