From: Randy LEEDY (Rleedy@bju.edu)
Date: Sat Dec 19 1998 - 10:27:15 EST
In the past couple of days we've had at least two short threads where
the initial query seemed to entertain a notion appearing ludicrous on
the surface. (I'm referring to the middle/passive question about
MIMNHSKW and the question about the double accusative with ARNEOMAI.)
In both cases we later learned that the ludicrous notion did not
originate in the B-Greeker's brain but rather in that of some other
misguided soul, and the B-Greeker was simply seeking confirmation for
rejecting the notion.
While I'm sure no one would contest the notion that brevity is
virtuous, that virtue, in excess, undermines itself by requiring extra
exchanges for the sake of clarification. So I enter a mild plea for
letting us all know, at the very beginning, "where you're coming
from," as consisely as possible, of course. By the way, checking the
dictionary on "concise" I find the sense "free from SUPERFLUOUS
detail" (emphasis mine). Perhaps CONCISENESS rather than mere brevity
is the virtue we want to practice to the utmost degree. (I write this
fully aware of my own strong tendency toward superfluity.)
I hope I haven't seemed to arrogate authority to myself. This is
simply a plea, not a mandate from on high. It seems to me to serve the
interests of both the writer, who does not want to be perceived as an
idiot (though being an IDIWTHS certainly isn't so bad: Ac 4:13, 2Cor
11:6), and the rest of the list, who can get to the heart of a matter
more quickly if the writer will let us know not only WHAT he is asking
but also WHY, since the many possiblities of WHY a question is asked
can have a big effect on WHAT answer one gives. (If I may be forgiven
a little superfluity, I can't resist noting that this very fact is a
major reason that Jesus' debates with his enemies are so marvelous:
His anwers to their questions reflect His perfect knowledge of why
those questions were asked. But since not so many of us on this list
can claim omniscience, I hope we can do one another the favor of being
careful to inform each other of relevant information that we can't
otherwise know.)
****************************
In love to God and neighbor,
Randy Leedy
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC
RLeedy@bju.edu
****************************
--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:11 EDT