The Vatican is in a stupor

[Tom Zurinskas]

Let's hope it's their last stupor.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+ 
see truespel.com phonetic spelling


 
 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Re: The Vatican is in a stupor
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> At 6/26/2010 02:16 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >At 2:01 PM -0400 6/26/10, Mark Mandel wrote:
> >>WAG: Possibly a loan-mistranslation/confusion based on something
> >>cognate/similar to "stupefied" in the sense of 'amazed, dumbfounded'???
> >>I.e., thinking "How can something like this have been allowed to happen?"
> 
> I suspect so too -- a mistranslation from Latin?
> 
> 
> >>m a m
> >
> >Yes, I think the reporter (or whoever) reached down the wrong
> >nominalization from the shelf, intended to pull "stupefaction" rather
> >than "stupor" as what was expressed.
> 
> The Times appears to be quoting directly from a Vatican statement.
> 
> Joel
> 
> 
> >LH
> >
> >>On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 11:07 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Belgian police hold members of the Belgian Bishops' Conference for
> >>> nine hours while searching for documents related to sex abuse cases,
> >>> and drill into the tombs of two Cardinals, former Archbishops. In a
> >>> statement, " the Vatican said its secretary of state 'expressed great
> >>> stupor at the way in which the seizures were conducted yesterday by
> >>> Belgian authorities and indignation at the fact that two tombs were
> >>> violated.' " [NYTimes, June 26.]
> >>>
> >>> Did the Vatican mean "[in] A state of insensibility or lethargy"? Or
> >>> perhaps dementia, namely anergic stupor or delusional stupor? Or
> >>> "Admiring wonder"? Or "Stupidity, dullness of
> >>> comprehension"? [Editorial comment: perhaps "stupidity" for having
> >>> tolerated what known abusers have perpetrated.]
> >>>
> >>> Well, perhaps "apathy or torpor of mind (now only, torpor or
> >>> prostration of mind due to sorrow, painful surprise, or the
> >>> like)" But even this "prostration of mind due to ... painful
> >>> surprise" is characterized as apathy, torpor (the latter being
> >>> "Absence or suspension of motive power, activity, or feeling;
> >>> {dag}inertia (obs.)" or "Intellectual or spiritual lethargy; apathy,
> >>> listlessness; dullness; indifference". [Editorial comment: a
> >>> revealing allusion to indifference?]
> >>>
> >>> Ultimately, it seems that being in a stupor and having indignation is
> >>> an oxymoron. Unless being held for nine hours put the bishops into a
> >>> stupor and noisy drilling into the tombs awakened them to indignation.
> >>>
> >>> Joel
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

                                          
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. 
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org