by Alpaca 51 Replies latest jw friends
Sorry, I did not mean to offend anyone by using the word "retarded."
I changed it to "stupid."
well now you went and did it. There are WAY more stupid people than there are retards on this earth. LOL
And to me of all the stupid/retarded/asenine terms used by the wt is slave class.
Does anyone know what a myriad actually is? The Washtowel Slaveholdery puts it at 10,000. Why the fxxx can't they just say tens of thousands?
I dont know if this is known in the U S , but it raised a shudder in the home of English.
w00 6/15 p. 25 Gilead’s 108th Class Urged to Render Sacred Service ***
. "The graduating class was exhorted to manifest the quality of stick-to-itiveness in their assignments"
Not sure if my comments as a non JW who has never been to a Kingdom Hall will be of any interest on this subject, but looking in from the outside to the JW world is like finding yourself in a Terry Pratchett Discworld novel where words mean something different and are used in very odd ways.
The phrase I find the most weird and unearthly is "faithful and discreet slave". At first I thought it referred to individual JWs who were expected to be slaves to the masters at the top.
I think of "faithful" in terms of marriage or dogs, and apart from in those contexts it doesn't come up much in everyday language in the 21st century. Loyalty is the modern version in terms of brands, supermarkets and supporters of football teams.
I previously understood the word "discreet" when used in connection to slaves or servants as being prepared to be dishonest, something like keeping one's mouth shut about the master's extra-marital affairs or being trusted not to blab that he was an drunkard etc.
"Slave" has huge negative connotations in the modern world and I couldn't fathom why the WTS would assocate themselves with a now repugnant practise.
Understanding posts on this board has required learning much new vocabulary and many abbreviations for me. When I first came to JWD (18th of March 08, I remember the date as it was my birthday!), I posted my question after only spending a couple of minutes establishing that it was not a pro-JW site. At that point I had virtually no knowledge of the new language I was about to learn.
In my third post I used the word "Church" in connection with the Watch Tower Society , which shows the depth of my naivety. However I think I was broadly representative of most in the wider community at least in the UK, who know nothing about JWs other than that you are best to avoid opeining the door to them. I remember feeling proud in my first post that at least I had found out that JWs didn't have vicars or priest but the correct term was "elders". It took me a while to learn to say "Study Conductor" instead of JW teacher and was stumped for a while as to how I should describe the equivalent of a Church Service held in a Kingdom Hall.
My first post elicited very helpful replies one of which was from WTWizard. The advice was good but he used words like Judicial Committee and hounding sessions, field circus and boasting sessions.Then poster StAnn added her comment to WTWizard as follows:
WTW, since the OP is not an ex-JW and is new to the board, you may wish to redo your post without using the jargon that makes so much sense to the rest of us but would be completely confusing to an outsider. You have good points. I'm just afraid that terms like "boasting session" may completely confuse the OP and your points will be missed.
She was so right about confusion, (although at first, not being a regular forum contributor, I didn't even know what an OP was, (apart from overhead projector) and she then addressed her next comments to me as 'OP', so that was confusing too!).
The biggest problem was working out which words were genuine JW language and which were JWD people being satirical or sarcastic. I realised "Filthful and Disgraceful Slave Bugger" was presumably not a phrase used in worship, but at the time didn't have a clue what it referred to. I assumed a 'boasting session' was where people got up in the 'Church' to boast about how many people they had managed to convert or something like that. I had to ask in a PM what 'Borg' meant. I still don't know when it is correct to use "The Organisation" and when to use "The Society" (or are they interchangeable?).
I feel very much an outsider here on JWD, although I am fascinated in a curious way by the whole world of JWs and every few days find myself staying up far too late to check in to see what's being discussed. I am the groupie and you are all the celebs. I don't watch soap operas on TV but it is the equivalent for me!
I am not just being voyeuristic as I do have a genuine reason to learn about the WTS ....I am still trying to help my friend out of the cult and there is so much good advice and insight in your posts. I can learn about the false doctirnes on other sites, but on JWD I can learn what it feels like inside the mind of a JW, albeit from exJWS. I hope you don't mind me being here.
Heather
I still don't know when it is correct to use "The Organisation" and when to use "The Society"
They are interchangable, and any JW will know what you mean when you use them, although neither term is currently en vogue amongst active JW's. The currently used term is "The Branch", as in, the US branch, the UK branch, etc. There was a directive to use that term rather than the older terms, probably because "The Branch" seems less like a mystery cult then "The Society" or "The Organization". These directives are announced from time to time, I remember about fifteen years ago there was an announcement at an assembly that simply said: "Please say 'New World', not 'New Order'". The explanations for these changes in terminology are never given to the rank & file to my knowledge.
"pioneer"
This always made me think of people from a couple of hundred years ago, travelling in ox wagon through uncharted territory.
they per-ished ig - no - min - i - ous - ly
I'm sure you can imagine what happened to the singing at that point in the song ....
they per-ished ig - no - min - i - ous - ly
Ha! I forgot about that one! Sometimes it seems like their are lyrics in JW songs that got there as the result of a dare or a bet on the part of the author.
they per-ished ig - no - min - i - ous - ly How dark is that? Singing joyously about people dying???? It's actually pretty scary, when you think about it.
Wow...this a really good sign....I don't even remember that song....
And, Galileo, can you elaborate on the other post you made about the molested bees....that just sounds so bizarre....
Thanks All, for the great input on Dub speak. This has been fun.
How about rendezvous for the bookstudy location??? Or (this is before my time) colporteur???
col·por·teur
1. a person who travels to sell or publicize Bibles, religious tracts, etc.
2. a peddler of books.
[Origin: 1790–1800; < F, equiv. to colport(er) (see colportage ) + -eur -eur
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Wow...this a really good sign....I don't even remember that song....
And, Galileo, can you elaborate on the other post you made about the molested bees....that just sounds so bizarre....
Song 125: Jehovah Is on My Side
Verse 2 -
2. I know that in this crucial hour
My faith will yet be tested.
Around me swarms the Devil’s crowd
Like bees that were molested.
But I can ever beat them off
Beneath divine protection.
On those who love to bear his name,
God sets his deep affection.
(Chorus)
