the world

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 29, 2004, at 9:36 AM, David Bowie wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
> Subject:      Re: the world
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> From:    "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>
> : Discussion of "the world" have centered on it being "not in the army"
> : or "not stationed away from home".
>
> : From Wall Street Journal, 4/29/91, article Darby, an advice
> : columnist in the Texas Prison system newspapers.
> : "The current Darby wrote for newspapers "in the world," as inmates
> : describe what's beyond the red-brick prison walls, so submitting
> stories
> : to the Echo came naturally.
>
> Among adherents of several (generally conservative, in my observation)
> religions, the phrase "the world" is often used to mean something like
> "those who aren't part of our particular belief system", with a
> connotation
> of "those sinners over there".
>
> Presumably that comes from the use of the phrasing in the KJV, such as
> "He
> was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
> him not"
> in Jn 1:10 and "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own:
> but
> because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
> world,
> therefore the world hateth you" in Jn 15:19.
>
> Since there's a possible KJV source for this use, might "the world"
> meaning
> "in a different situation" have spread from religious use into
> military and
> prison uses? I don't know if it'd be possible to document either way,
> though.
>
> David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
>     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>

Irregardless, it certainly seems to me to be a viable explanation,
considering the broad influence that the KJV has had on black speech.

-Wilson Gray