Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 22:05:30 +0200 From: Neil Blakey-Milner <nbm@mithrandr.moria.org> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> Cc: Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@ofug.org>, Jordan Hubbard <jkh@winston.osd.bsdi.com>, Alfred Perlstein <bright@wintelcom.net>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG, jkh@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: fortune candidate from #FreeBSD on EFNet Message-ID: <20001108220530.A41158@mithrandr.moria.org> In-Reply-To: <200011081855.LAA22115@usr08.primenet.com>; from tlambert@primenet.com on Wed, Nov 08, 2000 at 06:55:36PM %2B0000 References: <xzpwveeqpx8.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> <200011081855.LAA22115@usr08.primenet.com>
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On Wed 2000-11-08 (18:55), Terry Lambert wrote: > > > I'm tempted to theorise that the phrase did not originate with the > > > book you quoted, but rather that its author used an expression his > > > readers were already familiar with. > > > > And I was right! Sorry, Terry, but you were once again caught with > > your foot deeply ensconced within your mouth. > > > > "Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, you work in strange and > > mysterious ways." -- Isaiah 45:15 > > > > "God's ways are as hard to discern as the pathways of the wind, > > and as mysterious as a tiny baby being formed in a mother's > > womb." -- Ecclesiastes 11:5 > > You are a moron. > > 1) The text is not the same. > 2) Neither one of them makes the joke work. > 3) In neither case are wonders being performed. > > Plonk! While I have a reasonably strong Anglocentric reading, watching, and laughing bias, I agree with DES on this. "God works in mysterious ways" is something I've heard over and again in churches, sermons, and writings of all sorts, and the Isaiah 45:15 quote is one I've often seen used in conjunction with it. I think the translation I'm used to starts something like "Verily, O Lord...", though. Calling him a moron doesn't make him any more right or wrong. Your points are pretty invalid too. 1) "Truly, O God..., you work in strange and mysterious ways" -> "God works in mysterious ways" is a pretty obvious move. 2) It made the joke work for me. And basically everyone I mentioned it to. A number, when asked where "The Lord works in mysterious ways" originates, mentioned the Bible, and one even suggested Isaiah. Since I don't have a Bible, I can't verify it, but I see no reason to doubt DES. 3) I don't understand. The joke is obvious to me - "God works in mysterious ways" is something I've heard over and again, and then add "FreeBSD has man pages" for one of two main reactions, the most common being "but ...". (Religious flamebait removed, but nevertheless it makes the joke more amusing to me) While your mentioned book may have popularised the phrase (I can't say it made me remember anything, although the Wodehouse comment by someone else made me ponder the type of humour it reminded me of), it's a very complex and twisted route that is adequately explained by the quote above. Neil -- Neil Blakey-Milner nbm@mithrandr.moria.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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