Thursday, December 23, 2004

Potpourri: Merry, Snow, Bubba Ho-Tep

Ann Althouse, who usually gets on base in her blog, hits a rare foul ball today. She doesn't mind "Christmas"; it's "merry" she doesn't like.
"Merry" has little to do with the message of Christianity. It connotes eating, drinking, dancing, joking, laughing, and horsing around. "Merry" turns Christmas into a generic winter festival. To express the spiritual happiness of Christmas, you would do better to say "Joyous Christmas." But the word "joy," standing alone, contains the meaning of Christmas.
I don't know about you, but in my house we express spiritual happiness by "eating, drinking, dancing, joking, laughing, and horsing around." Jeez, Ann, the last person I would suspect of taking the Puritan approach!

... My father was a meteorologist. If he were alive, I'd ask him what to call the weather we are currently having in Cincinnati. If I recall accurately, the technical meteorological term for these conditions is "big-ass snowstorm." They're predicting 20 inches before it's all over.

... I finally got to watch Bubba Ho-Tep. It's worth seeing (caution: not for kiddies). On the surface it seems to be a simple tale about Elvis and JFK fighting the undead in an East Texas rest home; but underneath it is a profound parable about aging and death: What will you do when your mojo starts to go? Have you learned enough lessons in your life to help you meet the Last Enemy, when your mental and physical strength is at an end? It's actually really funny, with a serious undercurrent.

Solemn thoughts for Yuletide. However:
Man, love thy Maker, and be MERRY,
And give not for this world a cherry.


UPDATE: The Paragraph Farmer also takes on Althouse, with a different approach.

1 comment:

bob jones said...

Thanks for the pointer, Ed. I like your money quote about how to express spiritual happiness. I can hear the scriptural paraphrase from Wayne and Garth of "Wayne's World" notoriety now: "as for me and my house, we will party on."