Well, I'm still processing this one. Saturday morning just gone. My wife says: "There's a man in a suit at the door!" I was about to say "Why don't you answer it?" when I realised that she wasn't dressed for receiving visitors, so I thought I had better do it, groaning internally, knowing who it would be. To be fair, I wasn't dressed for company, either: pyjamas, dressing gown and socks, hair a dishevelled mess.
The last time I went to the door, it went something like this (more about that later):
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5144704300089344/they-came-door
Actually, now remembering, the last time was actually this one, but I couldn't summon the mental and emotional energy needed that particular time:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5993895939276800/there-some-sort-campaign-going-on
Anyway, the gentleman at the door was somewhat elderly and affable. He didn't try any sneaky opening questions designed to get you discussing their area of interest, but introduced himself as a Jehovah's Witness going door to door. He said something about putting in hours that prompted me to ask if he was a pioneer but referencing the old joke, something like: "So you're being Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett in your 'Coonskin Hat?" He didn't seem to get the joke or what I was getting at so I asked "Are you an auxiliary pioneer?" Often when you show too much knowledge of the WT structures, they can get nervous and start heading for the gate. He turned out to actually be an auxiliary pioneer and seemed very cheerful to talk, letting me know that he was generally expected to put in 35(?) hours per month.
He did get one of their leading questions in about "What is God's name?" and got "Jehovah" in, but admitted that that was the anglicised version. I said to him: "Do you realise that the older edition of your own New World Translation, in the introduction, said that the original pronunciation would have been closer to 'Yahweh'"? He said something like, well yes, it probably did, and you can use 'Yahweh' if you like, but that doesn't take into account that the Tetragrammaton has three syllables". I said, "That's as may be, but 'Jehovah' is a 12th century Catholic scribe's transliteration error; why would you use that?"
Anyway, that opened the door to something I've been wanting to do for years:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5282419645612032/new-nwt
We got to talking about how I once was able to get a Kingdom Interlinear from a gentleman who manned a literature stand many years ago (the gentleman at the door said he had a copy of that himself), and how, in this day and age, might I go about getting a hard copy of the revised NWT? He offered to get me one! None of the grilling and other argey-bargey suggested in the above thread. Apparently there are copies kept at the Kingdom Hall for handing out as necessary. He actually drove to the Kingdom Hall and got me a copy, still wrapped in plastic. I had a chance to get properly dressed in that time, although I still didn't get a chance to run a comb through my hair. We discussed the differences in translational approach between the editions (dynamic versus formal equivalence) and he had to go (probably to catch up with his field service group; there were a bunch of 'em loose in my street).
During the conversations, I had him chuckling to some of the old "You might be a Jehovah's Witness if:" jokes. And we were also discussing Dorothy L. Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey at one point, but that's not super relevant.
After he left, my family came out and said "Who was he?" I said "A Jehovah's Witness, of course!" They said "But you had a long, friendly conversation and didn't chase him out the gate! We thought he must have been an old friend!"
That got me thinking: if you don't come to my door as a pair, effectively ganging up on me and activating my "fight or flight" response, but come on your own, you might find me to be a (somewhat) charming conversationalist! Perhaps. 🤔
Anyway, he said he'd be back in two weeks, so I suppose that I'm officially a "return visit"? I did warn him about my mild form of bipolar disorder and that I couldn't guarantee that I'd be the same friendly chap next time. That's when it emerged that one of the ladies from a previous visit had apparently said something about me being aggressive and argumentative. So it seems that they do keep some sort of record about what the households are like, if only a mental note. I'm wondering if the kindly old auxiliary pioneer drew the short straw and got to knock on my door.
Anyway, this time, for once, I was "a sweetheart of a guy". 🙄😊