"The N-Word of the Narcissus." By Joseph Conrad

[Jonathan Lighter]

I mean the kind of souls recognized by soul experts like holy men and stuff.

A fellow graduate student once explained to me - on that basis - that
animals appear to be just "little machines" without souls.  Under relentless
cross-examination, he confessed that logically he couldn't rule out the
possibility that animals might have souls after all - animal-type souls -
but that the Bible certainly said nothing about the matter.

He observed, though, that  "the Bible was written for us, not for them," so
its failure to mention animal souls - if any - was perfectly
understandable.  He inclined to the belief that *if* animals have souls,
they wouldn't need a Bible anyway because animals are not guilty of Original
Sin. They have nothing to be saved from.

My personal belief, moreover, is that it would be silly to write a Bible for
animals, because they can't read.  But wait! Somebody's already done it!
http://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-animals-bible/

Holy cow!

JL

On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 7:09 PM, Jocelyn Limpert
<jocelyn.limpert at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "The N-Word of the Narcissus." By Joseph Conrad
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Your animals may not have souls, but mine do -- at least as much as any
> humans, many of whom don't seem to have much of a soul either! In fact,
> those in the animal world are much more compatible (and smarter and blessed
> with more common sense) than a disproportionately large number of our
> fellow
> humans, the "n" word applying to many of them (as in "narcissistic") but
> not
> to any animals I've met of either sex!
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 7:01 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "The N-Word of the Narcissus." By Joseph Conrad
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Yeah, but animals don't have souls.
> >
> > Also, if my n-word plan won't make me rich, forget it.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 6:48 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: "The N-Word of the Narcissus." By Joseph Conrad
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 6:24 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > > > rich
> > >
> > > Not!!!
> > >
> > > When I saw that title, I thought that it was meant to be a parody of
> > > the P.C. mind-set. Pretty funny! Then, after I had looked it up and
> > > discovered that it was a real book and that the editor meant his
> > > version as a serious statement WRT racism, I was ROTFLMAO!
> > >
> > > (Now, if I could find a way to get people to realize that defaulting
> > > to the *masculine* in cases like _actor_ vs. _actress_ hardly matters
> > > in a language in which, e.g. chickens, hens, sheep, and cows are
> > > routinely referred to as _he_ , as though the words cockerel,
> > > cock/rooster, ram, and bull don't exist, and it seems to escape the
> > > notice of everyone but me.)
> > >
> > > --
> > > -Wilson
> > > -----
> > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> > > to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > > -Mark Twain
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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