Language Tips



Language and Vocabulary: Most of the sites here are in English (which is an ambiguous, but common, language); but lots of foreign words are used, particularly Biblical ones, for the REAL Bible was NOT written initially in English (English didn't exist, back then). So if you don't understand some word or idiom I use, and you can't tell the meaning by what context I use, keep trying to guess; or, go to Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com) and search for that word or idiom. Someone will have a definition. Foreign words can usually be translated by Babelfish; foreign Biblical words, via some chatroom Bible robot or an online original-languages Bible program.

MORE: Foreign language terms are in foreign dictionaries, but most of the non-Biblical foreign words I use are either Latinisms or French, and should actually be in any good ENGLISH dictionary. For Biblical words, you could get the definition in a chatroom like undernet's #scripture, #prosapologian, #philosophy, or (on starnet) #apologetics: someone will likely know the meaning. Bible's Greek or Hebrew words are usually in the vocabulary form, and can be found using any 'bot or CD which has the original-language texts: all but #philosophy chatroom have a 'bot with original-language Biblical texts, but their Romanized spelling may differ a LOT. My own Romanization tries to either most approximate the LOOK of the original-language letter, or to most approximate its SOUND. [For example, the Greek "s", when not at the end of a word, looks like a flattened "6", so I use "6" sometimes to represent it. I have foreign-language fonts, but they come from BibleWorks (you can get them there for free, but I have the software) -- so you couldn't read them anyway, here. I don't know how to upload the fonts to Yahoo.]

Other terms are field-specific: you can find these in the textbooks of various disciplines (psychiatry, economics, finance, military, law, diplomacy, actuarial science, etc). If you have big online dictionaries or encyclopedia CDs, you should be able to find most of them. If not, try to guess the meaning from the context: a real good skill to develop for Bible study, and secular living.

Finally, I INVENT words and grammar structures, too. Hopefully, you'll grasp the meaning anyway. If your native tongue is NOT English, don't accept MY usage of English as the 'proper' English, because often I deliberately BREAK 'proper' English rules. I try to avoid 'respectable' vocabulary, since nowadays the hypocrites have monopolized it. Also, sometimes I invent words and break grammar rules to imitate how Scripture writers deliberately broke the rules of their own languages: to make a point STICK OUT. 'Rudeness, included: yes, the original languages of Scripture often use rude or otherwise-unacceptable language, to communicate -- translators try to hide these deliberately GOD-INSPIRED but 'unacceptable' words (viz., Philippians 3:8 uses a common swear word which translators tone down with words like "dung" or "refuse"). God is not so prudish. Also, sometimes I break English rules for the sake of euphony (way the sentence sounds).

As time passes, I'll revise the grammar and spelling mistakes I didn't intend to make. My first priority was to WRITE; and then, to later rewrite and correct. If this fact bothers you too much, you might want to forego reading 'my' sites.

Sisyphus