Evil

MatC · 153221. Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:46 am

The following dates were all marked on mediaeval calendars as “Egyptian” (ie, unlucky) days:

· January 1 and 25
· February 4 and 26
· March 1 and 28
· April 10 and 20
· May 3 and 25
· June 10 and 16
· July 13 and 22
· August 1 and 30
· September 3 and 21
· October 3 and 22
· November 5 and 28
· December 7 and 22

S: www.wordsources.info/words-mod-dismal.html

MatC · 153282. Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:53 am

Some more on evil days:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-egy1.htm

Molly Cule · 169276. Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:04 am

What is the King’s Evil?

It is a disease like TB called Scrofula, which affects the lymph nodes in the neck. In the Middle Ages thought that the "royal touch" could cure it. The first English King who is supposed to have had this power was Edward the Confessor. The French Kings also cured King’s Evil by touching it. There was a ceremony in the Book of Common Prayer for this ritual. Usually the person who had been touched would be given a gold coin, like an angel, sometimes with a hole in it so the recipient could wear it around their neck like a talisman.

Queen Anne touched baby Dr. Johnson’s neck when he had it in 1712. His coin has St. George and the Dragon on one side and a ship on the other.

Charles II. touched 92,107 persons all together. The smallest number in one year was 2,983, in 1669.

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/King's_Evil

MatC · 169282. Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:33 am

I thought I’d have a look at different ideas of EVIL from various times and places. Please chip in with further examples. Forfeit for the first one to mention Davros.

Britain’s post-war welfare state was based to a large degree on the Beveridge Report, chaired by William Beveridge, a former lawyer and director of the LSE. The Report was commissioned by the government in 1941, and charged with outlining how Britain should be reformed and rebuilt after the war. It was published in 1942, and famously declared that future governments must find ways of defeating the five “Giant Evils” - Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. (Cue jokes about students ...)

MatC · 169287. Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:37 am

I have been trying to find - without success so far - a half-remembered list of evils, drawn up by Franco, or perhaps by the Falangists, or the Church, during or before the fascist period in Spain. In my memory it is something like “The Seven Evils Facing Spain,” and it includes Communism, Capitalism, Atheism, Judaism ... and some others. Possibly, photographers’ monkeys widdling on tourists, but possibly not.

Can anyone help?

MatC · 169300. Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:20 am

The Three Evils are:

Terrorism, separatism and religious extremism in contemporary China and elsewhere (according to Human Rights watch, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/14/eca13545_txt.htm)

Corruption, waste and bureaucracy in China in the 1950s.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_17.htm

Covetousness, resentment, and evil-mindedness, to Buddhists.
http://www.rk-world.org/ftp/basic3.html

The Four Evils are:

“To be fond of conducting great affairs, changing and altering what is of long-standing, to obtain for one's self the reputation of meritorious service, is called ambition; to claim all wisdom and intrude into affairs, encroaching on the work of others, and representing it as one's own, is called greediness; to see his errors without changing them, and to go on more resolutely in his own way when remonstrated with, is called obstinacy; when another agrees with himself, to approve of him, and, however good he may be, when he disagrees, to disapprove of him, is called boastful conceit. These are the four evils. When one can put away the eight defects, and allow no course to the four evils, he begins to be capable of being taught.” - in Taoism, http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/sbe40/sbe4015.htm

Conquest, war, famine and plague, in Christianity at the end of the world. . http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Four+Horsemen

The Five Evils are:

Bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts and stealing of economic information, in China in the 1950s.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_17.htm

MatC · 169306. Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:29 am

The Six Evils are:

Wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness, summer heat: these are the six external causes of disease, also known as the six evils, in traditional Chinese medicine.
http://www.aworldofacupuncture.com/acupuncture-disharmony-causes.htm

dr.bob · 169324. Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:55 am

Carrying on the theme...

The Seven Evils, according to the Confucian government in Korea, were seven reasons for which a man could "expel" his wife. Known in Korean as "ch’ilgo chiak", these seven evils were:

disobeying parents-in-law
bearing no son
committing adultery
jealousy
carrying a hereditary disease
talkative to a fault
larceny

s: http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/IES/southkorea.html

dr.bob · 169331. Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:04 am

And so it goes...

According to Buddhist teachings, there are eight evils associated with the use of a leaf hut (well, it's news to me!). These are:

1) The great labour involved in searching for materials and in the putting of them together

2) The constant care necessary to replace the grass, leaves, and bits of clay that fall down

3) The liability to interruption

4) The protection afforded against heat and cold renders the body delicate

5) The cover it affords for disgraceful practices (!)

6) The taking possession, saying, “This is mine”

7) To have a house is like having a companion

8) The sharing of it with many others, as for instance with lice, bugs, and house-lizards

s: http://www.bartleby.com/45/3/101.html#noteFN271

MatC · 169333. Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:06 am

Oh, I love that, Bob. Looks like a list drawn up by a husband for not having to do the jobs on his wife's list of jobs for him to do (because he hasn't found a reason to expel her yet).

MatC · 169336. Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:12 am

What’s the highest number of “Evils”? I’m up to fifteen so far (St Paul, I think). If there was a number missed out, we could invite the panellists to come up with their own list to fill the gap.

eggshaped · 170450. Sun Apr 29, 2007 3:05 am

Illegal immegration blamed on Satan:

eggshaped · 170453. Sun Apr 29, 2007 3:14 am

Gray · 170457. Sun Apr 29, 2007 3:52 am

Heh - I came upon that picture yesterday too! :-D From one of Garrick's links, I think...

Jenny · 170598. Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:48 pm

Don't forget the Axis of Evil.