"Clowning"
Passion
Palms
Wholly/Holy/Holey
"Two Thieves at the Cross"
"Good" Friday
Eastertide
Pamper Room
"Holey Dictionaries"
Tribes
Soft Drinks
Orchestra Concerts
Whey/Weigh/Way

Clowning
01/04/01

A "clown" is a person who entertains others and tries to make them laugh by doing foolish things. Professional clowns in circuses dress in funny costumes and have painted faces that also invite laughter, but ordinary people who do silly things to make others laugh may also be called clowns. In answer to the question about the difference between a clown, a comedian and a humorist, it has been said that a clown wants you to laugh at what he does, a comedian at what he says and a humorist at what he thinks. "Clown" may also be used as a verb meaning to behave or perform like a clown. Nowadays, there are some clowns who are dressed and made up as professionals but who perform for or visit people who need to be cheered up. For such clowns, clowning is considered a ministry to stimulate happy feelings. There are a group of clowns in this Penney Retirement Community who periodically perform as a group at special programs or who make individual visits to patients in the nursing home and residents of assisted living units before joining diners in the Dining Hall. Recently, a clown dressed in red with a tall red hat, a big, round red nose in the center of a white face above large, red, smiling lips sat at the dining room table next to me. On her hat was her clown name, "Smiley". During the meal, she talked with those of us at the table and afterward she even followed me home for, you see, she was my wife. After spending an hour carefully applying her make-up, she had left home a couple of hours before to make her visits to the rooms of those needing some "cheering up" before coming to the Dining Hall. (259)

Passion
01/04/04

The word "passion" is rooted in a Greek word meaning "suffering", but can you imagine what "passion fruit" is and why it was given that name? "Passion fruit" is the small, pale-yellow, edible fruit of a "passionflower". In Japanese, this flower is called "tokeisou", which literally means "clock grass" or "clock plant", and was given that name because the shape of that flower seemed similar to the face of a clock. In English, "passion" is not necessarily related to suffering. It may denote a number of different strong emotions, including love, joy, hatred, anger or greed and a person showing such strong feelings may be called "passionate". When spelled with a capital P, the word signifies the sufferings of Jesus Christ in the days just before his crucifixion. In some Christian churches, the second Sunday before Easter is called Passion Sunday and the following week is called Passion Week (which is this week this year). It is said that 16th century Spanish missionaries to South Africa named a plant "passionflower" for in its flowers they fancied resemblances to things involved in Jesus' passion, including a spear, five wounds, scourges, three nails and a crown of thorns. A play representing the Passion of Christ is called a Passion play. The church in my hometown of Zion, Illinois, of which I became a member, began presenting the Zion Passion Play in 1935 and continues to do so even today. I also took part in that dramatic production until I left town to go to college. The Bible teaches that the passion, or suffering, of Christ was to provide salvation for all people and an example for all to follow (I Peter 2:21-25). (253)

Palms
01/04/06

As has often been pointed out in these messages, there are many English words with irregular pronunciations. For example, in words ending with a-l-m, such as balm, calm and palm, the "l" is silent. This message is related to "palms". First, that is what the inner surface of one's hand is called; the palm of the hand extends from the wrist to the base of the fingers. "Palm" may also denote a unit of length equal to either the width or length of the hand and may signify the blade of an oar or paddle. This word is also used to identify a certain kind of tree found in the tropics. These trees do not have branches coming out of their trunks, but they have a bunch of huge leaves at the top. Some palm trees produce coconuts; others produce dates. For some reason, from ancient times, the large leaves of palm trees have been used as emblems of victory, success or joy, so the expression "bear the palm" means to win the prize in a given contest. There are two passages in the New Testament that mention palm branches. In the vision related in Revelation, chapter 7, beginning with verse 9, there was a multitude of people wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. And, according to John 12:13, people took palm branches when they greeted Jesus with shouts of "Hosanna" as he entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey before he was crucified. In commemoration of that event, the first day of Holy Week in the church calendar is called Palm Sunday. In some churches, palm branches or small crosses made of palm branches are distributed to worshippers on that day, which is next Sunday this year. (260)

Wholly/Holy/Holey
01/04/08

Sir Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, writer and statesman some three centuries ago, wrote the following words about books: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention." One of the books which should be read "wholly" is the "holy book" called the Bible. In the Biblical sense, "holy" is an adjective that is applicable primarily to God, who is separated from all that is sinful or unclean. In a secondary sense, that which has been set apart or consecrated for a sacred or divine purpose whether it be a book, a place or a person, may be considered "holy". The town in northern Illinois in which I was born and raised, called Zion, was considered a "holy city" because it was founded as a religious community with various laws and customs aimed at keeping it pure. As a teenager, I jokingly said that at least some of its streets were "holey", but I coined a new word to express the fact that there were holes in some of the streets that needed repair. In the Christian calendar, the week before Easter, which falls on April 15 this year, is called "Holy Week". It begins with Palm Sunday, which commemorates the "Triumphal Entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, a symbol of peace, while the crowds around him waved palm branches to welcome him and show their approval. The day commemorating Jesus' death on the cross is called "Good Friday". Can you imagine why such a day is called "good"? (255)

"Two Thieves at the Cross"
01/04/11

Many retired clergymen, ministers of various denominations, reside in this Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida. Many of them have served as pastors of congregations in the United States; others served as missionaries in various countries overseas. Most of these men and women are willing and able to preach at worship services in the church here or to speak at other meetings in the community so we enjoy a variety of speakers or preachers with a variety of viewpoints. I was asked to give the final Wednesday evening talk of the 6-week Lenten Series on "They Met the Master". Previous messages were related to stories in the Gospels of women and men who had met Jesus and how that meeting changed their lives. The topic given to me was: "The Two Thieves at the Cross". Since the date of my message was the 4th day of the 4th month, at the beginning of my talk, I noted that the number 4 was an unlucky number in Japan because it has the same pronunciation as "death". Furthermore, I noted that among the ancient Hebrews, 13 was considered an unlucky number because of its association with "death" also. In Hebrew, numbers are indicated by letters of the alphabet and the 13th letter in the Hebrew alphabet, which corresponds to the English letter M, is the first letter of the Hebrew word for "death". The story of the two thieves "meeting Jesus" on their crosses is found in Luke 23:32-43. Their words to Jesus are very different from each other and Jesus' response to the penitent thief, "Today you will be with me in paradise", is worthy of deep consideration. (263)

"Good" Friday
01/04/13

My dictionary lists 15 different definitions of the adjective "good", 8 of which are divided into two or three subsections. Consequently, there are 25 definitions to choose from. This term is used in many common greetings, such as "good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening", "good night" and "good day". The original thought of such greetings was to wish the hearer a pleasant, enjoyable time, but "good-bye", the greeting used in parting, is actually a shortened form of "God be with you". The Friday of Holy Week, the week before Easter, is the day commemorating the unjust and extremely painful death of Jesus on a cross. In the church calendar, it is called "Good Friday", but how to define "good" in this case is a problem. Some people affirm that "good" and "God" have the same root and are thus naturally related. Others reject this idea, but in the case of "Good Friday", it is generally recognized that "good" is related to "God" and this day was also called "Holy Friday". It is the Christian conviction that Jesus' crucifixion was not for his sins but for ours and that his shameful, voluntary death was the highest expression of God's love for us sinful human beings through which we may experience a new life characterized by joy, peace and hope. Thus, for the believer, it is a genuinely "good" Friday. This year, that "Good Friday" falls on Friday, the 13th, which some superstitious people consider an unlucky day because Jesus died on a Friday and there were 13 present at the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples. (257)

Eastertide
01/04/15

People who live along a seacoast or who often go swimming in the ocean know very well that the dividing line between water and land constantly changes. That is because of the "tide", which is a variation in the surface level of oceans caused by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon. The original meaning of "tide", however, is "season" and it is still used with that meaning in such terms as "Christmastide" and "Eastertide". The season in the church year, beginning with Easter Sunday (April 15th this year), is known as Eastertide. Although many people may consider Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus, to be the major Christian festival, actually, the most important festival is Easter, which celebrates Jesus' resurrection. According to the complicated method of determining the date of Easter to relate it to the lunar calendar used by the Jews of Jesus' day, Easter is now celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. But it may also be said that Jesus' resurrection is celebrated every week, for Christian worship services are held on "the first day of the week" to commemorate that event. Eastertide continues for forty days until Ascension Day. The word "Easter" comes from the name of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring whose festival was observed in the spring. In the King James Version of the Bible, this word is found once, in Acts 12:4, where it is a mistranslation of the Greek word denoting the Jewish festival of Passover, which is the translation in the 28 other passages where this word appears. (258)

Pamper Room
01/04/18

To "pamper" means to treat with excessive indulgence, to coddle. This word is usually used to indicate an adult's attitude or actions toward a child. It is the impression of my wife and me that, generally speaking, Japanese parents tend to pamper young children while Americans are more strict. The English poet, John Dryden, in one of his poems, described the Jews as "God's pampered people, whom, debauched with ease, No king could govern nor no God could please". Pampered children are often very difficult to control. Although no children are residents of this Penney Retirement Community, there is a room on the campus here, next to the Post Office, called the "Pamper Room". Can you imagine what kind of service is provided for residents there? Ladies might call it a beauty salon, but for men, it is a barber shop. In the Pamper Room, there are two women who take care of the hair of those who call for appointments. Both my wife and I make use of their services. The last time I entered that shop to keep my noontime appointment was during a heavy downpour of rain accompanied by a strong wind. Before I left home to walk there, the electricity in our house went off, but fortunately I had disconnected my computer before that happened. The Pamper Room was dark because there was no electric power. Some ladies who had been under hair dryers were preparing to leave and the barber's chair was in a dark area of the room, but the "pamperer" told me to sit in a chair near the large, streetside window. It was in that unusual place that she cut my hair and I was pleased to be "pampered". (261)

"Holey Dictionaries"
01/04/20

A coin is a small, flat piece of metal which is used as money. When used as a verb, however, "coin" may mean to make coins or to invent a new word. In a recent message titled "Wholly/Holy/Holey", I presumptuously stated that, in my youth, I had coined a new word when I said that some streets in my hometown were "holey" streets, meaning they had holes in them and needed repair. The day after that message appeared, our elder son, who lives in the state of New Mexico and calls us on the telephone on Sunday afternoons, informed me that I had not coined that word for he had found it in a dictionary. Before composing that message, I had consulted a dictionary and the word was not listed in it. While talking to my son, however, I looked in an older, somewhat larger dictionary and found that word in it. My son also looked at another of his dictionaries and did not find that word. Later, I looked in a number of different dictionaries on sale at a book store. Some of them contained the word and others did not, so we may say that, even some dictionaries have "holes" in them and could be called "holey". Dictionaries are considered to be authoritative reference books, but we must remember that they also are compiled and edited by fallible human beings. The words included in dictionaries and the definitions given are also related to the time of their publication and to the status of the readers for whom they are written. For that reason, dictionaries also need to be periodically revised. Similarly, modern translations of the Bible may be better and easier to understand by young people today. (265)

Tribes
01/04/22

When Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean, in 1492, and arrived on an island southeast of the present United States of America, he thought he had reached India and mistakenly called the natives "Indians". Since that time, the natural groups of the native inhabitants of the American continents were called "American Indian tribes". Nowadays, both the terms "American Indian" and "tribe" are considered objectionable and "politically incorrect". Instead of "American Indian" the term "Native American" is preferred and a substitute is recommended not only for the natural groupings of Native Americans but for those in the African and Asian continents as well. In the minds of many people, the term "tribe" has a connotation of primitiveness, backwardness, superstition and savagery. European colonists considered the "nations", "peoples", "kin-groups" or "communities" of Africa and America on a lower level of civilization and looked down on them as lower class human beings. As a result, some of them were bought and sold and put to work as slaves. Of course, an objective view of human history will find many other examples of nations, tribes or ethnic groups with superiority complexes which have also despised other groups and treated them inhumanely. Now it is generally recognized by enlightened, educated people that all human beings are of the same "tribe" in the broadest sense and should be shown respect. In the Bible, God is described as the Father of the whole family of human beings. Consequently, we are all brothers and sisters despite our physical and cultural differences. (241)

Soft Drinks
01/04/25

The number of Americans who are obese, or extremely fat, is increasing year by year. This is evident among children as well as adults. It is reported that the prevalence of obesity among children in the United States increased by 100 percent between 1980 and 1994. It is estimated that, at the present time, 24 percent of American children are obese. Obviously, various factors are involved in this unhealthy development, including a lack of healthy exercise and a poor diet. A recent study of 548 children aged 11 or 12 from public schools in the commonwealth of Massachusetts for two school years until May 1997 indicated that there is a definite relationship between drinking sweetened soft drinks and gaining weight. Its conclusion was: the odds of becoming obese increased significantly for each additional daily serving of a sugar-sweetened soft drink. A "soft drink" is a nonalcoholic beverage, which is usually carbonated. In the dining hall in our retirement community where we usually eat our noon meal, there is a soft drink machine from which we may get small chunks of ice as well as a variety of soft drinks. I regularly go to that machine to get a glass of ice water with a slice of fresh lemon in it for my wife and a soft drink of some kind for myself. There are a number of English terms that begin with the word "soft". "Soft soap" may denote "a fluid soap" or "flattery" and "to soft-pedal" may mean to weaken the tone of a piano or to make something less emphatic. The person who is "softhearted" and "soft-spoken" usually "soft-pedals" his or her arguments. (243)

Orchestra Concerts
01/04/27

The Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida, where my wife and I reside, is about 45 minutes by car from Jacksonville. This largest city in the state has a symphony orchestra that holds weekend concerts. A group of us from PRC attend the monthly Coffee Concerts held on Friday mornings. Before the concert begins, coffee, tea and cookies are available in the lobby of the Symphony Hall. At a recent concert, my wife asked me what was the difference between a "symphony orchestra" and a "philharmonic orchestra". I promised to investigate and this is what I found: there is no difference. "Symphony", derived from Greek words meaning "sound together", may mean "harmony" and "philharmonic" from Greek words meaning "loving harmony", may mean "pertaining to a symphony orchestra", which is defined as "a large orchestra composed of string, wind and percussion sections, designed for playing symphonic works". Giovanni Gabrieli, organist at St. Mark's Church in Venice in the late 16th century, is said to have been the first composer to specify certain instruments for particular portions of a musical composition and, thus, became "the father of the modern orchestra". In modern symphony, or philharmonic, orchestras, strings (violin, viola, cello, bass) are in the majority, followed by woodwinds (flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe, bassoon), brass (horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba) and percussion (drum, harp, keyboard, piano) instruments. We continue to be amazed at how these many varied instruments can be played in such a manner to produce such beautiful, symphonic harmony. (256)

Whey/Weigh/Way
01/04/29

A nursery rhyme is a short poem with lines that rhyme that is taught to small children. A famous nursery rhyme which is well-known by American children is about "Little Miss Muffet". "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet/ Eating her curds and whey/ Along came a spider/ And sat down beside her/ And frightened Miss Muffet away." Although I knew this nursery rhyme in my childhood, I did not understand the meaning of "tuffet", "curds and whey", but now I do. A "tuffet" is "a clump of grass", and as milk sours or is turned into cheese, it separates into liquid and solid parts; the solid part is called "curds" and the liquid is called "whey". But I still do not know why Little Miss Muffet was ingesting "curds and whey". The word "whey", spelled w-h-e-y, is pronounced the same as another word spelled w-e-i-g-h, which means to determine the weight of something using a scale or to ponder or evaluate something in one's mind. And there is still another, more common three-letter word with the same pronunciation. This "way" is a road or a path to somewhere. We are all traveling along life's road, but we must take care about where the road is going. In Proverbs 14:12, it is written: "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." And Jesus also, in Matthew 7:13-14, spoke of a "wide" gate and an "easy" road that leads to destruction in contrast to the "narrow" gate and the "hard" way that leads to life. Finally, on the night before his death on the cross, Jesus said very plainly to his disciples: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). (254)