Classics Joke of the Day
This is a story about a certain Professor who teaches Old English at the Centre, and was related to Em the Younger and me over coffee yesterday by a member of Team Anglican.
One day, when Professor O. was a grad student at Oxford working on his thesis, there was a knock at the door. When he answered it, he found two Jehovah's Witnesses, who asked him if they could come in and talk about God.
He thought about this..."thesis, talk about God...thesis, talk about God..." and decided, like a good Grad Student, to choose procrastination. "Sure, come on in."
"Did you know," the Witnesses asked him, "that in the first chapter of the Gospel of John,* there are two words used for 'God'?"
"Uhm, no there aren't," he replied.
"In the Greek," they explained patiently, "there are two words for God."
"Um, I could go get my copy of the Greek New Testament, if you'd like."
So he did, and opened it up to the Gospel according to John. "You see!" the Witnesses exclaimed. "Two different words!"
"Ah, I see," he replied. "Let me tell you about cases."
And a Catholic Nerd Quote
E: It means "to take pity on." You should remember this, it's one of the BVM** verbs.
What I Did Last Night
I had my own little Wallace and Gromit marathon, and watched all three shorts and Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I can now find all the little references to the shorts that are in the full-length movie.
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*Two cases: The word was God (nominative) and the word was with God (ablative or whatever they use in Biblical Greek for that).
**As in, Blessed Virgin Mary
One day, when Professor O. was a grad student at Oxford working on his thesis, there was a knock at the door. When he answered it, he found two Jehovah's Witnesses, who asked him if they could come in and talk about God.
He thought about this..."thesis, talk about God...thesis, talk about God..." and decided, like a good Grad Student, to choose procrastination. "Sure, come on in."
"Did you know," the Witnesses asked him, "that in the first chapter of the Gospel of John,* there are two words used for 'God'?"
"Uhm, no there aren't," he replied.
"In the Greek," they explained patiently, "there are two words for God."
"Um, I could go get my copy of the Greek New Testament, if you'd like."
So he did, and opened it up to the Gospel according to John. "You see!" the Witnesses exclaimed. "Two different words!"
"Ah, I see," he replied. "Let me tell you about cases."
And a Catholic Nerd Quote
E: It means "to take pity on." You should remember this, it's one of the BVM** verbs.
What I Did Last Night
I had my own little Wallace and Gromit marathon, and watched all three shorts and Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I can now find all the little references to the shorts that are in the full-length movie.
---
*Two cases: The word was God (nominative) and the word was with God (ablative or whatever they use in Biblical Greek for that).
**As in, Blessed Virgin Mary
2 Comments:
Accusative case. There is no ablative in Greek. You may have to tell this joke to people who know Greek in the future.
By
Caelius, at 6:48 PM
Wouldn't they use genitive in Greek too?
By
Unknown, at 2:18 PM
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