Hated then, love now?

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Gadzooks = 'God's hooks' ie the nails used in the crucifixion. Oaths on the instuments of the Passion were apparently quite common.
The Christian God involves three persons. The second person of this trinity died and allegedly rose again.

I thought maybe I was making that up!

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Did they actually believe that their god could die?? That seems so strange to me ... or were they talking about the execution of Jesus of Nazareth??

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I betcha they said something closer to "Gadzooks," which sort of boils down to "God's Blood," which was a very powerful oath back in the day. If one swore by Gadzooks, then it was not something that could be taken back.

No, if that's a quote of the oath, then I'm sure they said God's death .... but, my question was whether that was a reference to Jesus ... rather than the actual Christian "God."

I've heard two different explanations for Gadzooks .... one is the one that Patricia mentions below. The other was that it was related to "Zounds" ... which was a referece to "God's wounds."

Originally Posted by Patricia

Gadzooks = 'God's hooks' ie the nails used in the crucifixion. Oaths on the instuments of the Passion were apparently quite common.
The Christian God involves three persons. The second person of this trinity died and allegedly rose again.

This, I know. My grandfather was actually a Christian minister. So, I learned all the trinity stuff growing up. I had just never heard of the phrase "God's death" or "the death of God" in an oath before. It struck me as sounding very odd.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The latter, I believe. We are talking about extraordinarily pious Christians, after all.
______
Dennis

Clearly. Very pious. Probably not very "Christian" ... but certainly very pious.

[montsnmags]

Bruce Dawe (Australian poet). We studied some of his works in High School, and I remember thinking they were complete twaddle (particularly The Corn Flake). Somehow, via another poem, and in the last few years, I've come to enjoy his work, and now his Sometimes Gladness sits next to the bed, not in the TBR pile but just handy when I feel like picking it up and flicking to a spot and reading (as with three others, along similar lines, by Elizabeth Bishop and Dylan Thomas and W.H.Auden...though we never studied any of these three at school, so I never got a chance to hate them. )

Cheers,
Marc

[=X=]

Funny I did not get forced to read a lot of the books most High Schoolers did. My High School had a program where you can chose another an equivalent elective for English. I choose one year Shakespeare and the next Mythology. Suffice to say I really enjoyed those classes and the material I read. 10th grade English was mandatory.

=X=

[alia]

By the time high school rolled around, I had already read - and enjoyed - most of the assigned reading books. However, as we slowly and painstakingly analyzed and dumbed down every single novel on the list, I learned to hate them. To this day, I can't even look at a copy of Heart of Darkness without suffering horrible flashbacks...

[JSWolf]

Hated then, won't read now. Why bother? There are too many other books out there that I might enjoy to bother going back over books I once disliked.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Hated then, won't read now. Why bother? There are too many other books out there that I might enjoy to bother going back over books I once disliked.

One excellent reason is that very often the books we are "force fed" in English lessons in school are great literature, but not intended for children. Dickens is a classic example - force-fed to school children, but definitely not a children's author. One needs to be an adult to appreciate his wonderful social satire.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One excellent reason is that very often the books we are "force fed" in English lessons in school are great literature, but not intended for children. Dickens is a classic example - force-fed to school children, but definitely not a children's author. One needs to be an adult to appreciate his wonderful social satire.

I never had Dickens forced upon me at school. We did however have Shakespeare forced upon us and that was bad enough. But yes, I fully understand. But to me, I feel that there are just too many good books out there that one may possibly enjoy without going back to something that brings back bad memories of what was endured during school. Now what can happen is a book you used to like, you go back and reread and find out it's not as good as you thought it was. I've had that happen. The last book like that was [i[Spock Must Die[/i] by James Blish. What I didn't pay attention to back then or really understood, I did now and the flaws in the book stood out quite easily.

[Over]

In school I avoided reading Eça de Queiroz. I've manage to pass very well without reading it. And it's funny how I now love his books with their (almost always) bitter endings. I've read all of them by now.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Now what can happen is a book you used to like, you go back and reread and find out it's not as good as you thought it was. I've had that happen. The last book like that was [i[Spock Must Die[/i] by James Blish. What I didn't pay attention to back then or really understood, I did now and the flaws in the book stood out quite easily.

<blink>

I'm a big fan of Blish, but not for his ST books. I'd love to see an ebook reissue of the "Cities in Flight" series, and of his Hugo Award winning _A Case of Conscience_.

Years back, there was a Star Trek con in Philadelphia, where I was living at the time. I stopped by because I knew people who would be there. One pair were selling books in the Dealer's Room. Blish had just died. They recounted a fan coming to their table, picking up a Blish ST novelization, and saying "He just died, didn't he?" "Yes." "Oh. Is he gonna write any more of these?"

I'm not sure how you respond to a question like that. My friends weren't, either...
______
Dennis

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Years back, there was a Star Trek con in Philadelphia, where I was living at the time. I stopped by because I knew people who would be there. One pair were selling books in the Dealer's Room. Blish had just died. They recounted a fan coming to their table, picking up a Blish ST novelization, and saying "He just died, didn't he?" "Yes." "Oh. Is he gonna write any more of these?"

I'm not sure how you respond to a question like that. My friends weren't, either...
______
Dennis

Haven't you ever heard of "ghost writers"?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Haven't you ever heard of "ghost writers"?

Sure. I think I know a couple. In the mentioned case, we considered spirit mediums and ouija boards, but concluded the question was best left as an exercise for the questioner. (Who arguably needed the exercise...)
______
Dennis

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Haven't you ever heard of "ghost writers"?

You mean like Steve King an Dean Koontz?

BOb

[JSWolf]

The last Star Trek novelization that James Blish wrote, his wife helped him with it because of his being sick.

[questionfear]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I don't think there were any assigned books that I ever hated. However, for a number of years, I wasn't able to get any further into "Atlas Shrugged" than about 50 pages.

Then, sometime in my late twenties, I picked it up and simply could not put it down. I loved it!!

Oooh, Atlas Shrugged is a wonderful book. I read it as a teenager, but re-reading it almost 10 years later was like reading a whole new book. I think it's great to go back and re-read classics and adult books that you read as a kid, since your adult worldview can make it a whole new experience.