Posts by Emma Hart
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he has urged family members to avoid airplanes and subways.
Meh. I've been wondering how long it'll take the 'I have a sniffle' panic crowd to die down at the doctor's. I need to take my daughter for her gardasil vaccinations.
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Basically, they said that parents/schools would never allow kids to explore witchcraft in such a way, that it was either green-faced, warted hags who cook you in a pot, or nothing.
The really sad thing is that, as far as parents go, they're probably right. That'd cause a complete, apopleptic fit at my kids' primary school. (Though not at the secondary school my son now attends, should you want to get back into teaching. They'd LOVE that.)
I can remember one of my daughter's pre-school session out at van Asch. Donna was teaching her about things that don't exist ie cat, that's real, but giant isn't, that's made up. Witch was on the list of made-up things. I got very slightly antsy, and after class she asked why. Turns out she'd already had shit from one parent about saying fairies weren't real, and from another about giants and dwarves. I had some sympathy.
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Your fan base sure is frisky today, Emma.
Heh, I'm thinking about emailing my partner and saying 'See? That expression you get on your face when I've already been ranting for fifteen minutes and you hear the phrase 'and then '? Completely unjustified'.
Except I'm pretty sure he's still right.
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Although: is burning portrayed as more common than hanging? I think it may be that it's highlighted because it's more horrifying.
Indeed. So some neo-pagans (there's a word that makes me wince) refer to the witch trials as The Burning Times. Any time someone's accused of being a witch you'll see them tied to a stake.
But hanging was more efficient when dealing with bulk accusations. You just line 'em all up on one of those party gibbets. And if it's 'death by hanging' rather than 'being hung by the neck until dead', it's faster than burning too.
The 'they' thing... y'know 'they'? The vast shadowy secret organisation that does everything? Witch trials happened all the way from Russia, through all of Europe, England, Scotland, and into the New World colonies, over a period of nearly three hundred years. How it happened and why it happened and who was 'behind it', that varied hugely from place to place. So when my batfuck flatmate finds out I'm writing on witch trials for history and says 'they did that to get women out of the medical profession', I'm looking for something to smack my head on. Lots of men went down too, particularly doctors.
I don't want to undervalue the sterling work of the Inquisition, but the accusation that got you booted and pressed and ducked and hanged probably came from your neighbour.
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How about the use of phrases like "they burned witches"?
*twitches*
There's actually not a word in that phrase I don't have a problem with. Amy, I take it yours is with 'witches'? Any time someone talks about how effective torture is I think about how it helped 'em catch all those witches.
Meanwhile my inner pendant is nagging me to tell everyone that most witches were hanged, not burned. And that every time the word 'witch' appears in the Bible it's being translated from a different Hebrew word, but hey, James I didn't have a 'thing' about female poisoners, so what harm can a bit of poetic licence do?
I try to restrain my inner crazy ranting bitch for you guys.
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I believe I have found the ultimate swine flu site.
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Who was the French player who scored the winning try against the ABs in the 2007 WC? He must be a contender for the Devil Incarnate, badness through and through.
I dunno if that was Sebastien Chabal, but if anyone's playing for Team Evil it's him.
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Who's that big Aussie rugby player?
Matt Dunning? The one with no neck?
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Just you, asking the Lord for his help. How easy is that, and it costs you absolutely nothing.
This sounds fair. Anne relies on prayer for protection, and I get to go through her house and take all the labels off everything.
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I just got asked to write content for a new Swine Flu website. On consideration, I have instructed the client as to where to stick it.