Thinking of Divinity

A. Unabashed Pacifist:

It takes a war to turn many men to peace.

B. Unabashed Christian:

Holy One,

I thought of you when the woman in the coffee shop was so helpful to teach me what I wanted to know.
I thought of you when a young man found new inspiration to follow an interest and to pursue a job possibility.
I thought of you when I helped with a little project on a farm.
I thought of you when I shared time with elderly relatives and felt re-connected.
I thought of you when we enjoyed a simple meal and in-depth conversation.
I thought of you when there was time for a group activity and talking deep into the night.
I thought of you when I lay down and was full from the memories of the day.
Amen

C. Un-quoting Jesus:

“Take it from me, people, Chaco sandals rock!”

[You’re right. He never said it.]

D. Blog: Word of the Week – “Quockerwodger”

[Thanks to World Wide Words and Michael Quinion for this great term.]

A wooden puppet on a string.

A most mysterious term, this appears in the middle of the nineteenth century, apparently originally an English dialect term for which no antecedents are known.

It is recorded best in John Camden Hotten’s A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words of 1859: "The term QUOCKERWODGER, although referring to a wooden toy figure which jerks its limbs about when pulled by a string, has been supplemented with a political meaning. A pseudo-politician, one whose strings of action are pulled by somebody else, is now often termed a QUOCKERWODGER."

Older readers may remember the toy. It was a wooden puppet whose legs and arms were connected only loosely to its body. It was suspended by a single string connected to the head. By jerking the string you could make the puppet flail about in amusing and ridiculous ways. You can see how the political meaning could easily have grown out of that.

[Yes we can.]