| JumpingJack
|
| 1492. Sat Nov 15, 2003 10:15 am |
 |
|
| You all know the score. |
|
|
|
 |
| JumpingJack
|
| 1493. Sat Nov 15, 2003 10:17 am |
|
|
Q. It says in the Bible “Jesus wept”. How many times does it say he laughs?
|
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1494. Sat Nov 15, 2003 10:18 am |
|
|
Q. How did Roman Emperors order the death of a gladiator?
|
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1495. Sat Nov 15, 2003 10:19 am |
|
|
| Q. In which country was golf invented? |
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1496. Sat Nov 15, 2003 10:20 am |
|
|
| Q. What rhymes with orange? |
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1497. Sat Nov 15, 2003 10:21 am |
|
|
| Does the Moon go round the Earth, or the Earth go round the Moon? |
|
|
|
|
| Jenny
|
| 1500. Sat Nov 15, 2003 1:16 pm |
|
|
| Quote: | | Q. It says in the Bible “Jesus wept”. How many times does it say he laughs? |
It says people laughed at him - in fact it uses the phrase 'And they laughed him to scorn' three times in the three gospels that describe the raising of the girl from the dead.
However, it doesn't say he laughed, or even smiled. Nor does it use the word 'merriment' in the NT, and 'merry' only comes in the context of being a Bad Thing:
| Quote: | 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up
for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be
required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast
provided? 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is
not rich toward God. |
However, the word is used in a more positive way in the parable of the Good Samaritan:
| Quote: | 15:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe,
and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
15:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat,
and be merry: 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he
was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. |
St Paul doesn't seem too fond of merriment:
| Quote: | 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him
sing psalms. |
The word also comes up in the second 'woe' of Revelations, and it doesn't look promising, being to do with the death of two prophets:
| Quote: | 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and
make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two
prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. |
'Happy' comes up in the context of feet-washing:
| Quote: | 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and
make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two
prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. |
Paul uses it once in Acts, and again as follows:
| Quote: | 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that
condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. |
and
| Quote: | 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the
patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is
very pitiful, and of tender mercy. |
and
| Quote: | 3:13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that
which is good? 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake,
happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; |
and
| Quote: | 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the
spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil
spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. |
So all in all, there's a lot more happiness and merriment and laughter in the OT than the NT, along with all the smiting and so on. |
|
|
|
|
| Frederick The Monk
|
| 1501. Sat Nov 15, 2003 1:56 pm |
|
|
Q - which one of these don't you need to make a functional sword?
- a metal bar
- a furnace
- a hammer
- a grinding stone |
|
|
|
|
| Frederick The Monk
|
| 1502. Sat Nov 15, 2003 2:00 pm |
|
|
| Quote: | | Does the Moon go round the Earth, or the Earth go round the Moon? |
Neither - the two rotate about their common centre of gravity which is actually inside the earth's crust but not at its centre. If you imagine a sumo wrestler involved in a fast Viennese waltz with a small but well built plumber you should get the general idea. |
|
|
|
|
| Flash
|
| 1503. Sat Nov 15, 2003 3:01 pm |
|
|
| Isn't the gladiator answer that thumb downward (into the other fist, like a sword being sheathed) actually meant "spare him"? I read somewhere that Ridley Scott knew this, but felt that the misconception was just too widely-held to be contradicted.
Last edited by Flash on Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
| Flash
|
| 1511. Sat Nov 15, 2003 4:56 pm |
|
|
This is a belter, and it's from the database:
Q: How did Christopher Columbus react to being told that he had discovered a new continent?
A: He denied it. Columbus went to his grave insisting that he had found a westward route to India. In fact he made his crew swear an oath to this effect, on pain of having their tongues cut out. |
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1515. Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:45 pm |
|
|
Well done all and sundry.
Flash well said about the thumb. Quite right (though I didn't know the Ridley thing...I hated Gladiator for such inaccuracies, and it only makes it worse to know that he knew these things were wrong). I'll post the full answer in a min.
Fred Crikey, I thought I was the only person who knew that Moon/Earth thing. Is there nothing you don't know? On swords you've already revealed your.brilliant answer to me, but do delight the others with your answer here.
Jenny thanks for the comprehensive Bible search, but, though it's a trick question, I think I have a neater (and more surprising answer). |
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1516. Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:48 pm |
|
|
In reverse order, then:
Q. It says in the Bible “Jesus wept”. How many times does it say "he laughs"?
(FORFEIT: NONE)
Five times.The cliché is: “It says in the Bible ‘Jesus wept’, but nowhere does it say he laughs”. Literally speaking, this is in fact completely untrue. The word Isaac means “he laughs” in Hebrew, and Jesus uses the word on five separate occasions.
ADDITONAL INFO
Isaac is from the Hebrew Yitschaq meaning "he laughs". Abraham was told by God that his elderly post-menopausal wife Sarah would bear him a son. Sarah, standing in the tent flap, overheard and laughed bitterly to herself. God, being omniaudient, clocked this and asked Abraham ‘What does she find so funny?’ Frightened, Sarah denied laughing. God kept his word and in due course Sarah gave birth, at which point Abraham was a hundred. They called the boy Isaac. Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
s: www.behindthename.com/nmc/gre-anci.html s: www. biblegateway.com |
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1517. Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:52 pm |
|
|
Q. Does the Moon go round the Earth, or the Earth go round the Moon?
My answer (which is perhaps both the same and the opposite of Fred's perfectly correct one) is:
Both. The Earth and the moon go round one another. They both orbit a centre of gravity located about 1,000 miles below the surface of the Earth, so that the Earth makes three separate rotary motions: round the Sun, on its own axis and around this point. |
|
|
|
|
| JumpingJack
|
| 1518. Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:54 pm |
|
|
Q. How did Roman Emperors order the death of a gladiator?
(FORFEIT: THUMBS DOWN)
Neither Roman spectators calling for the death of a gladiator, nor Roman Emperors authorising one, ever gave a thumbs down. They always gave a ‘thumbs up’.
ADDITONAL INFO
For a loser’s life to be spared the thumb was hidden inside the closed fist (as with a sheathed weapon)– if death was desired, the thumb was stuck up like a drawn sword. No Roman did ‘thumbs down’ in the way that we do for any reason, no matter what trashy movies like Gladiator may say.
The Latin phrase ‘pollice compresso favor judicabatur’ means “goodwill –or partiality, acclamation, applause– is decided by the thumb being kept in”. ‘Pollex compressus’ means ‘thumb tucked in’; ‘pollex infestus’ means ‘thumb hostile’. Infestus is Latin for ‘unsafe’, ‘dangerous’ or ‘inimical’.
s: ALD quoting Pliny, Horace, Juvenal et al. |
|
|
|
|
