I very clearly remember reading the sentence “Jesus ate and drank, but he did not defecate”, being presented as the conclusion some old church father came up with after he’d had a good, long think about it. I can’t recall where it’s from and google’s unwilling to back me up right now, though.
FWIW, the Jehovah’s Witness New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures renders it as taking a bowel movement. (No direct quote, because I’ve read it only in Spanish.)
I’m sure that Fish didn’t mean that in the modern sense (which is pretty recent) – Danae was impregnated by Zeus in the form of a shower of gold, as she was sealed in an underground chamber with locked doors. As A.B. Cook pointed out almost a century ago, the image was probably inspired by a meteor shower. I’ve gone further an argued that it was inspired by the Perseid meteor shower. (Danae gave birth to Perseus)
[/pedant]
I give you…
(link goes to a youtube video from the dawn of Beavis & Butthead… Sterculius appears at about 2:30.)
I have no idea if that’s a joke, but if it’s not then it’s the funniest factual statement I have ever read 
Factual. “Loki’s Flyting”. I don’t know that it’s THAT amusing, but Snorri thanks you for being a good audience. He’ll be here all week. Try the mead.
well, there’s this quote from the bible
Which is the reason you’re allowed to use the bathroom on the Sabbath.
Hi Chaim, so what IS the Straight Dope on the phrase in 1 Kings 18:27? Can the Hebrew phrase translated “deep in thought” really mean “taking a dump”?
He is identified in my Chiltern Seeds catalog as the God of the Loo. Elsewhere it is claimed that he is the God of Organic Fertilization, which sounds nicer.
I have a Labrador that has blessed large portions of the back yard.
I’m not Chaim, but I looked up various translations. I thought the Hebrew euphemism for defecation was “covering one’s feet”. See Judges 3:24 and others.
Regards,
Shodan
Kimstu:
No. That phrase means “having a discussion” and I’m not aware of that being a euphemism for anything. More so, according to the translation I have, it’s not meant as part of the "perhaps"es. It was part of Elijah saying that since the Baal-worshippers ascribe to Baal the power of speech (i.e., discussion) and action and movement(the next phrase), Baal should certainly be capable of hearing and understanding their requests, so perhaps he’s sleeping and needs louder cries to be awakened.
Even in the context of the translation Shodan linked to, it still doesn’t make sense as a bathroom euphemism. Elijah was mockingly driving them to shout louder. That might make sense to wake up a sleeper, or to get the attention of someone in deep thought, but if Baal had to go, yelling loudly wouldn’t logically get him off the pot any sooner.
Then I was mistaken. Thanks for the clarification.
Just keep your axe at your side and your Moxie-bottles strapped on tight and you’ll get 'long just fine.
Down with LonGears! (as if we could tell the difference)
Actually, it seems I spoke a little too soon. I looked at some commentaries on Kings over the weekend. A number of them do interpret the bit about “deep thought/conversation, etc” as Elijah offering reasons (like the sleeping one) why Baal would not have heard them and in particular Rashi, an 11th-century commentator (and one of the most respected ones) says that the “traveling” phrase (not the “deep thought” one) was referring to Baal “travelling” to the bathroom.
You may have read it in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. In his disquisition on kitsch, Kundera says:
No idea how accurate this is, but Wikipedia seems to back him up.
Stargate will never be the same…
Well, scientology has the god(s) dropping a load on earth.
At least they apparently dropped said load into volcanoes.
I wonder if the ants are bowing down to worship The Great Furry One, Munificent Provider.