A girl I knew in college was supposed to have read The Stranger. She didn't. And she had a class in just about an hour where she was bound to be called on by the professor to discuss it.
Having read it in high school I gave her a quick, short description of the story, pointing out some of the highlights and themes, so she would have just enough to get by.
But being kind of a jerk, I also told her that if she really wanted to impress her professor she should bring up the "story within the story" about Idi Imin and his quest for the Holy Grail.
For those of you unfamiliar with The Stranger, Idi Imin and a quest for the Holy Grail are found nowhere in the novel. And, fortunately for her, she never had the opportunity to "impress" her professor with her knowledge of this non-existent tale.
We all had a good laugh over it, including her, although she was a little pissed at the time.
So I was glad to hear that this practical joke is still alive and well, having apparently most recently been played on Nancy Pelosi.
Good times. Good times.
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3 comments:
Never heard of Poe's Law? Never read something that sounds a lot like the Bible, like the Book of Mormon? Pelosi uses a trick that ministers and suck-up politicians have used for years, and you want to take her to task for it? OK, let's correct her, and force her to actually use something from the New Testament to justify massive social programs to help the poor, that'll show her!
How many times have you heard someone quote the Bible? How many times did you re-check the context of the passage they quote from? Studied the scholarship of the words used, to see if the meaning stayed intact throughout the several retranslations over the 1,800+ years since it was first written down, in many NT cases, from second-hand retellings? Checked to see if they weren't bending the meaning of one extracted phrase to suit their contemporary political aims, while ignoring the overall message of the New Testament? Or picking out one phrase from Leviticus, but ignoring the rest of the prohibitions there?
Idi Amin? What about all the apocryphal tales that are in only some printings of the Bible today, yet were in all King James Bibles before 1640, that play around the edges in children's stories and tales of miracles? Heavens to Betsy.
To use a quote I've become particularly fond of as of late due to my recent re-viewing of Stripes (and yes, the quote is actually found in the film), lighten up, Francis.
The linked article quotes a number of Biblical scholars who not only say the quote isn't in the Bible, but even the spirit of the quote can't be found. I found more humor in the situation when recalling how I once convinced someone there was a story about Idi Imin and the Holy Grail to be found in The Stranger than anything else, and had I any desire to take Pelosi to task, it certainly wouldn't be over such an insignificant issue.
Heavens to Betsy indeed!
I knew you'd enjoy my post.
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