Go into the city to So-and-so

by Funchback 1 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Funchback

  Matthew 26:18 ("Go into the city to So-and-so..."-NWT) and Ruth 4:1 ("At that Boʹaz said: 'Come here and sit down, So-and-so.' "-NWT) used to annoy me. I didn't really understand it. Now I do. According to Wikipedia:

  • So and so, (Heb. peloni almoni) is used in Hebrew literature as early as Book of Ruth 4:1 in reference to an unnamed relative of Naomi, Ruth's mother in law.
  • So and so (or "so & so"), a placeholder name used for someone who is unspecified, unknown or whose name is forgotten.

  So, there you have it. Hopefully we can all sleep better at night now. By the way, maybe they can start using other expressions like whatchamacallit or what's his name.
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  careful

  If you're interested in more detail, a professor of Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt University wrote an article in 2012 on this phrase in the Ruth passage. Here's the link. It begins on page 251:

  https://my.vanderbilt.edu/jacksasson/files/2013/03/Sasson-So-and-so-Eskenazi-Fs.pdf