Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Nice New Modern Word

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" If you're joining our readership for the first time, please be advised that we are Standing Room Only due to the legions and legions and legions of current subscribers!

Some days only the bored gods read my posts.

No complaints! I'm glad to be offering entertainment to the bored gods. How many games of Scrabble do you think Ishtar has played? I give her something to look forward to every day.

So, yesterday I asked for your opinions on a replacement word for the negatively-freighted term "pagan." The response was underwhelming. Humbling, in fact. I'm as popular as Milk and Cheese (Dairy Products Gone Bad).

So I put my Who CD on full blast, took a walk, and made up my own word, and thank you very much Computer Era for allowing caps in the middle of words!

Drum roll .........

NoGaps.

Am I not the most brilliant thing on toast? I took the word "pagan," turned it around, and looked at it backwards. Up comes a different vowel, and OOOOO WEEEEE!

Another underwhelming response. Okay, I have thick skin. I can take it.

Some of you might think "pagan" is perfectly fine. Okay, we at "The Gods Are Bored" have a big, broad, flexible outlook. You go.

But we like NoGap because it can be an umbrella term to cover any and all praise and worship teams that can trace their lineage back deep into the past. Somehow, without a gap, ancient traditions have been passed on, even though it hasn't always been easy or in the best interests of a long, healthy life.

Also, this term is inclusive. It could apply to worshippers of Moche Indian gods and goddesses as well as your friendly neighborhood Wiccan.

Now, I want no rowdiness in the overcrowded "Gods Are Bored" arena! For crying out loud, I may live in New Jersey, but I'm not Bruce Springsteen! Stop inundating me with comments and queries! I'm a busy woman.

FROM ANNE
THE MERLIN OF BERKELEY SPRINGS

11 comments:

Misha said...

Hmm. I'm still thinking about a new word for "pagan." That word never bothered me. The word "witch" (when referring to yourself as a follower of Wicca, not as the "female dog with a w") used to make me cringe because it has such negative connotations, but that doesn't bother me anymore, either. Me thinks I'm becoming mellow as I age. Or maybe I just care less and less about what other people think. :)

The term "Neo-pagan" kinda bothers me, though, so I think the new term for pagan should encompass the new return to the old ways without sticking a prefix in front it.

I am a writer by trade and I shall think on this and I'll let you know if I come up with anything. But fair warning: I may just come up with a slightly amusing acronym instead. :)

*rubs chin and thinks serious thoughts*

Anne Johnson said...

Misha, if you are aging, you musta been one beautiful baby!

Davoh said...

The prefix 'pan' comes from the Greek ='all', so how about PanDeus?

Hecate said...

I like Pagan. I'm Wiccan and I also like Witch. I think the term Pagan is broader, encompassing, for example, Druids, Santieria, etc. What I like about the term Witch is what the rest of the world doesn't like about it. :)

Anne Johnson said...

Great word, Davo! Confirms my view that all the most intelligent people live in Australia.

Davoh said...

Nah, gets a bit cumbersome with suffixes. PanDeus-ist? Pandeus-ism? Oh well, back t the drawing board.

Anonymous said...

Those are too close to PanDeism, PanDeist anyway (which, incidentally, mishmashes the same roots, the Greek 'pan' = all and the Latin 'deus' = god)

Anonymous said...

Pandeism = the deus is loose!!

(ok, I know, deus rhymes with 'pay us', not with loose... but)

Anonymous said...

ok, let's not get all discretional now...

Anonymous said...

actually deus rhymes with pay-oos

Anonymous said...

or day-oos