Today's aspergian exercise, or: the hairy ocean heresy
My recent head depilation, and subsequent medieval monastic look, led me naturally to try to create a pun filled blog for the cancer grrl site, using two words that have frequently vexed me because despite the fact that they are similarly spelled and sounded, they completely lack any relationship one to the other. NOW I realize that there are three of these perilous P-words. Without further adieu (heh..sorry, I KNOW it's ado), I bring you the three perilous Ps.
1. Pelage: fur, hairy covering of a mammal. As in: "Maria possessed a diminutive pollard, whose pelage was lactescent as crystallized precipitation. (thas mary hadda little lamb, yall) OR, if you moderns prefer, Maria possessed a diminutive clone
2. Pelagian: The theological doctrine propounded by Pelagius, a British monk, and condemned as heresy by the Roman Catholic Church in A.D. 416. It denied original sin and affirmed the ability of humans to be righteous by the exercise of free will.
Of course, If I were witty and british and medieval and all that, I could make a good pun out of fur and monks and heresies...ah...but I ain't even gonna go there... Of course, it's also funny that "hairy" sounds a lot like "heresy"...
*By the way that's not Pelagius above. That is St. Augustine, one of his opponents. Couldn't find a pic of Pelagius. I would think he'd look a lot happier than St. Augustine.
3. Pelagic: Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters.
This is my favorite of the 3Ps.
So pelage is from the Old French word for hair, and pelagic is from the Greek word for ocean. Pelagian is obviously from the man's name (Pelagius). Maybe Pelagius was hairy. He was an old Brit, so he did live near the ocean, although that ain't enough to be pelagic of course. He was also supposed to have been influenced by Greek thought.
At any rate, I just think these three words are interesting. I remember getting confused when someone was talking about "pelagic" meaning near the ocean, and I thought they were talking about "pelagian" as in the heresy.
So I can't really make anything cute up about this, because my head's just not there right now, having lost my pelage. I leave it up to those of you pelagian enough to exercise your free will. for me, I would rather go to pelagic regions for some R&R.
1. Pelage: fur, hairy covering of a mammal. As in: "Maria possessed a diminutive pollard, whose pelage was lactescent as crystallized precipitation. (thas mary hadda little lamb, yall) OR, if you moderns prefer, Maria possessed a diminutive clone
2. Pelagian: The theological doctrine propounded by Pelagius, a British monk, and condemned as heresy by the Roman Catholic Church in A.D. 416. It denied original sin and affirmed the ability of humans to be righteous by the exercise of free will.
Of course, If I were witty and british and medieval and all that, I could make a good pun out of fur and monks and heresies...ah...but I ain't even gonna go there... Of course, it's also funny that "hairy" sounds a lot like "heresy"...
*By the way that's not Pelagius above. That is St. Augustine, one of his opponents. Couldn't find a pic of Pelagius. I would think he'd look a lot happier than St. Augustine.
3. Pelagic: Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters.
This is my favorite of the 3Ps.
So pelage is from the Old French word for hair, and pelagic is from the Greek word for ocean. Pelagian is obviously from the man's name (Pelagius). Maybe Pelagius was hairy. He was an old Brit, so he did live near the ocean, although that ain't enough to be pelagic of course. He was also supposed to have been influenced by Greek thought.
At any rate, I just think these three words are interesting. I remember getting confused when someone was talking about "pelagic" meaning near the ocean, and I thought they were talking about "pelagian" as in the heresy.
So I can't really make anything cute up about this, because my head's just not there right now, having lost my pelage. I leave it up to those of you pelagian enough to exercise your free will. for me, I would rather go to pelagic regions for some R&R.
Labels: randomizer
posted by abigail at 3:13:00 PM
2 Comments:
I think you need to read "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard. If you haven't, it's wondrous and tangentially related to your entry; if you have, give it another go. I'm going to run my hand through my mop of pelage, exercise my pelagian free will, and dream of a tranquil life in a pelagic idyll.
aw tollway, you know I only read sci-fi, and sometimes runners mags...
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