adjective "Christian"

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:27 AM -0800 3/14/05, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>from the NYT, 3/10/05, p. A22, "Favor the Rod, Get the Ax" (with
>subhead: "College Expels Education Student Who Advocated Corporal
>Punishment"), by Patrick D. Healy:
>
>The profanity transported him [Scott McConnell, the education student
>in question] back to his own days at Robert E. Lee Elementary School in
>Oklahoma in the 1980's, when there was a swift solution for wiseacres:
>The paddle.
>
>"It was a footlong piece of wood, and hung on every classroom wall like
>a symbol, a strong Christian symbol," said Mr. McConnell, who is 26.
>-----
>
>i'm struggling to see how a paddle used for punishment serves as a
>Christian symbol.

It is half of a crucifix, after all.  Maybe at places like Robert E.
Lee Elementary in Oklahoma, the mind tends to complete the crucifix
with the missing perpendicular the way one tends to complete
triangles with missing parts...

Larry