Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: “A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, ‘You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.’" (Matthew 26:73, New Living Translation) See also; Mark 14:70, Luke 22:59

All the apostles, with the exception of Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:11), were Galileans, an inhabitant or native of Galilee. This word was used as a name of contempt as applied to our Lord's disciples (Luke 22:59; Acts 2:7). Peter was detected by his Galilean accent (Matthew 26:69; Mark 14:70).
Jesus and His disciples apparently had a distinctive mode of pronunciation of the Aramaic language, defined as “a distinct emphasis given to syllables or words in speech by stress or pitch, pronunciation, intonation, enunciation, articulation, inflection, tone, modulation, cadence, timbre, manner of speaking, delivery; brogue, burr, drawl, twang.” (Whew!) For example, perhaps you have heard a Bronx accent, or southern accent.
They quite possibly sprinkled their speech with words that are considered to be a dialect: a particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group. Let’s take a look at some common words that are found in different regions of the United States.
What do you use to carry your school supplies, lunch or groceries? Depending on where you live, you might use a sack, bag, pouch, pack, satchel; knapsack, backpack, rucksack, packsack, day pack, bookbag, or a tote bag. Sack and poke were both originally regional terms for bag. Sack has since become a Standard term like bag, but poke remains regional, mainly in South Midland Regional dialect. Ever hear of a pig in a poke?
Maybe you grew up transporting grains, potatoes, and other agricultural products in a burlap bag, AKA gunny sack, an inexpensive bag made of burlap. Gunny comes from the Sanskrit word gon, meaning "jute or hemp fiber, from which they are usually made, although modern sacks are often made from polypropylene. Also regionally called crocus sack, croker sack, tow bag, or tow sack, a gunny sack holds approximately 100 pounds of potatoes. Gunny sacks are also popular in the traditional children's game of sack races.
To make things even more interesting, “sack” has numerous other meanings, including a loose, unfitted, or shapeless garment (a sack dress), in particular a woman's loose gown; sack out - go to sleep or bed; be sacked - dismissed from employment; in football, tackling (sack) a quarterback behind the line of scrimmage before he can throw a pass; in baseball, a base; in historical contexts, the pillaging of a town or city - plunder and destroy a captured town, building, or other place, perhaps originally referred to filling a sack with plunder.
If your lingo runs more to bags than sacks, consider this: a bag can be a loose fold of skin under a person's eye; "The bags under his eyes gave him a sad appearance"; or,
She began to unpack her - bags, suitcase, case, valise, portmanteau, grip, overnighter; backpack, rucksack, knapsack, haversack, carryall, kit bag, duffel bag; satchel; (bags) luggage, baggage.
As a verb, you might bag, catch, land, capture, trap, snare, ensnare, kill, or shoot fish or game. Maybe he bagged - got, secured, obtained, acquired, picked up; won, achieved, attained; commandeered, grabbed, appropriated, or took - seven medals.
You might brown-bag your lunch, use a sack, a lunch box or dinner pail to tote that submarine sandwich, or depending on where you live, you could call the same sandwich a “hero”, “hoagie” or “grinder.”
And the words you use just might tell others where you live.

Seeds for Thinking (©) 1996 - 2011 by Leland Hubbell

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Samuel took a stone and set up up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.”1 Samuel 7:12, NIV

How do you carry things? Do you use a bag, a sack, or a poke? Many times an object goes by different names, depending upon the location. In some southern and midland areas of the USA, you put things in a poke, including a ‘pig in a poke.’ A picnic in one area might have a hopping good time with sack races, while another would use a bag.
Then, again, a ‘poke’ is a projecting brim on the front of a woman's bonnet, and you might be wearing a ‘poke bonnet.’
In Scotland, men and boys wear a bonnet, a brimless, seamless woolen cap. In other locations, men and boys would say that only women wear a bonnet, a cloth or straw hat tied under the chin. In Britain, you would likely pop the bonnet to check your oil, but Americans call that device the ‘hood’ of their automobiles.
Consider the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout 'til May be out". Clout is from an Old English word for cloth or clothing, and the saying was a reminder not to be too quick to shuck the winter woollies before the chilly days of May were over.
A farmer friend from ‘Down East’ commented that his neighbor used to say that he was "Light on rowen, but we got plenty hay. Ain't nothing wrong with good hay." Rowen is an old-time term for second-cut forage. Those who use the term will call first cutting hay, second cutting rowen. To call something second-cutting hay would be a contradiction in terms. Rowen derives from middle English rewayn, Norman French regain -- to grow or harvest again.
Many of the older church hymns use words or terms that are equally cloaked in unfamiliarity, the kinds of things you skip right over but keep on singing. The second verse of “Come, Thou Font of ev-’ry blessing” (Robert Robinson, John Wyeth) begins with, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I’m come;” Unless you are an especially astute Bible scholar, that one flies right over your head.
The author is referring to Samuel’s “Stone of Help,” which he set up “between Mizpah and Shen” to commemorate the Lord’s help . The verse continues,

“Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.”

Consider ways in which you can share the Lord’s help in your life. Set your own ‘Ebenezer’ and rejoice in it.
July 17, 2005