h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As the trouble-maker who first mentioned it
I hasten to add that Great Caesar's Ghost is
really quite simply explained.

I knew it from Superman comics, an expression
of psuedo profanity often uttered by Clark Kent's
grumpy cigar smoking editor Perry White. It was a
euphemism for more obvious and common blasphemies
which would have been unsuitable (and therefore been
censored) in comic books of the 1950s.

A search reveals its origins was another comic strip
from 1913 - 1914 in which a character named Julius
Caesar lived in a fantasy Rome meant to represent
the modern whirled. It focused on women's rights
issues with a naughty awareness of women's ankles.
http://www.barnaclepress.com/list.php?directory=GreatCaesarsGhost


However...
Based soley on the Perry White source it was my idea
that it qualified for inclusion in this discussion if only
because it generally represented all those other mild
profanities and blasphemies (such as fiddlesticks, swounds,
fuddle-duddle, odds bodkin and what the dickens) which
arose as ways of swearing without really swearing.

Geez..

If profanities and blasphemies are a product of religious
prohibitions then, shirley, any ways and means of walking
that fine line without actually being profane or blasphemous
are legitimate examples of 'cultural stuff' spawned by
religion/spirituality.


~jwf~

Euphemisms like that have popped up in other languages. "Sacre Bleu" was devised as an amusing alternative to "Sacre Dieu" [Holy God]. Bleu was the name of the King's dog. Thus God became dog.

Mags I thought 'the Devil has all the best tunes'?

There you go - that's how to convince me

Im not sure if I will ever forgive you for omiting the most spiritual stuff of all:
Those jewels of gastronomy like the sweets eaten at Easter, Christmas, the Dia de los Muertos and other holy dates...

>> the Dia de los Muertos <<


Yes indeed. In North America this means the evening before,
or Hallloween (All Hallow's Eve) which is a time for kids
to Trick or Treat and collect candy, bob for apples and
pull toffee.

Mmm...candy kisses, candy apples...

We must thank All The Saints and all the dead.


~jwf~

JWF: "If profanities and blasphemies are a product of religious
prohibitions then, shirley, any ways and means of walking
that fine line without actually being profane or blasphemous
are legitimate examples of 'cultural stuff' spawned by
religion/spirituality."

profanity+blasphemy = conceptual bad = evil = against the sacred = sacrilegiousness
euphemism = disguised sacrilegiousness
acceptable language = not sacrilegious hence contains concepts of being "allowed" = allowed by some higher authority beyond the individual = sacred

Hmmm very interesting. I think we are moving towards a community based origin for religion. I think Max Weber and Emile Dhurkheim might have had similar thoughts on this matter. Jwf and others refer to the "collective consciousness" of a community. I suppose the "collective consciousness" that represents approval must be that which is sensed as "god".

"Im not sure if I will ever forgive you for omiting the most spiritual stuff of all: those jewels of gastronomy like the sweets eaten at Easter, Christmas, the Dia de los Muertos and other holy dates" [Maria { Rebelez-vous! }]

Did we omit them, or was the subject so vast that we hadn't gotten tothem yet? I've been trying to think of a way to work hot cross buns into the discussion. Thanks to you for giving me the chance.

"Thanks to you for giving me the chance"

Isn't that religious? for giving ...

also is "Paul" considered to be a religious name?

Paul has become associated with a religion [Christianity], just as Mohammed has become associated with a different religion [Islam].

There may be some non-Christians who name their sons Paul. I doubt that there are many non-Muslims who name their sons Mohammed. Jacob was the most popular name for baby boys for several years in a row. I'm going to hazard a guess that many of those Jacobs were not born to Jewish parents.

So, I'm going to say that names need to be handled on a case by case basis. Saint Paul and Saint Francis were important figures in the history of Christianity, and yet I doubt that people will think of the religious connection whenever they meet a Paul or a Francis.

But I could be wrong.

>> I suppose the "collective consciousness" that represents approval.. <<

Not to belittle your insight, which is right on about
social mores(*1) and that over-riding innate sense
we all have of what is right and wrong because it's
what most people would agree. But, aye, there's
the rub. The tyranny of democracy.

For, while there is safety in numbers, the herding
instinct, the group hug as it were, there is also
(inevitably) repression in the rule of any majority.
IE: "There's more of us so we're gonna do it OUR way."


~jwf~

(*1) Mores: [mawr-eyz]
plural noun Sociology:
Folk-ways of central importance accepted without question
and embodying the fundamental moral views of a group.

"For, while there is safety in numbers, the herding
instinct, the group hug as it were, there is also
(inevitably) repression in the rule of any majority.
IE: "There's more of us so we're gonna do it OUR way."

There is no denying the "collective will" creates "collective won'ts" for the individual. However some say that we have gone too far to far over to the mass society from the civil society, where individual rights dominates over individual responsibility.

>> some say that we have gone too far to far over
to the mass society from the civil society...<<

I think I may be one of those. But I'm old.
And I remember when you couldn't even say
"Great Caesar's Ghost!" in public and still
expect to be treated as a 'person'.


~jwf~

>>..to work hot cross buns into the discussion. <<

Excellent example.
Not being raised as a Christian I remember that
the little 'hot cross' used to make me nervous.
Religious symbols, hymn books at school, bibles,
all made me quite nervous as a child, not knowing
what was involved. They must have some
sort of power or shirley they wouldn't be considered
so important and holy, so they needs be handled
with care and reverence; I did not want to do
the wrong thing.

And I used to worry about the workers at the bakery.
What if the icing went crooked? Would they be damned.
And, was it OK if they got burned in the oven?
Or somebody dropped a hot tray?


~jwf~

Speaking of hot crosses, there is another whole area of
somethings that religion/spirituality has 'given' us, the
'language' of symbols and icons.

Somewhere between and beyond Art and Literature (which
have already been discussed) there is a whole whirled
of logos and images that are neither Art nor Literature.

The cross, the crescent moon, the mandala (and its modern
incarnation as the happy face), the skull and crossbones,
the men's and ladies restroom signs, the Apple logo, the
Christian fish symbol, yin and yang, the No U-Turn sign,
dangerous explosives, do not enter, stop, the star of David.

All these graphic designs are simple and readily identify a
tribe, an idea, a rule or law, a philosophy or a corporate
identity.

They are not words, and are such simple pictures as to never
be considered works of art but they communicate to us the power
and influence of the social systems they represent. Coca Cola,
the Soviet Union, Formula One, Nike, high voltage, radioactive,
the Republican Party.

For it is written: "And this shall be a sign unto you."


~jwf~

Sometimes the sign takes on a life of its own, separate from its original intent. Kenmore Square in Boston [Massachusetts] has a very large Citgo sign that sits on top of a tall building and is visible for miles. At night it is lit up with neon light. I doubt that more than a handful of people care about its role of advertizing the Citgo chain of gas stations. But whenever anyone even suggests removing the sign, there are protests. Why? Boston is a large place. At night it's easy to forget where you are in relation to the rest of the city. But as long as you can see the Citgo sign, you can figure out where you are.

I feel I should pump my upcoming series in The Post on Big Churches in Little Europe.

Saint Peter's in the Vatican claims to be the largest church in Christendom. There's room for about a dozen services to be held simultaneously.

> For it is written: "And this shall be a sign unto you." <

Looking down at my keyboard, there are no keys with a religious symbol as far as I can tell, but there are the following symbols: $$$ £££ %%%.

I wonder whether smileys are a form of "neo-romanticism" reaction to the cold intransigent "rationality" of the keyboard.

2.20am. Can't sleep but delighted...truly delighted to stumble upon this on the 'intelligence2' site.

Robert MacFarlane on Landscapes and the human heart

The Tabernacle.

http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/macfarlane/

If this ain't to do with the spiritual...I dunno what is...and I don't know what word to really use...shows how limiting our present day use of English is for these things to do with inner space..aside from art...I think? I'm willing to bet the Anglo Saxons use of English was more suitable. And no I don't have evidence; just a hunch.

Atheists sum it up with the term 'the numinous' sometimes.

I want to get his book.

I think I can drift off now.