# Stop telling God what to do, please **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 29, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867 "2001-11-29T04:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/21 "2001-11-29T15:37:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\*Hmm … I thought the “may” was kinda implied. > > “[May] God bless [object].” \*\* Aha! That’s what OOP means: Object Oriented Prayers. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/22 "2001-11-29T15:48:23Z")
I perfer to go to our european roots when someone around me sneezes. I ward off the evil eye, back away and cry out, “Bringer of sickness and death!” … Would probably explain why people avoid me during allergy season. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/23 "2001-11-29T16:00:29Z")
First, the song and the original expression behind it were intended as _prayers_, i.e., humble requests to the Deity to bless one’s country. As, of course, was “God save the queen.” The imperative mode seems to be less than well understood in everyday parlance, but surely one can draw the difference between “Please be seated” and “Siddown.” For me, the patriotic song of choice is the one produced by the Boston schoolteacher who took a vacation with her life partner back in 1893. The two ladies visited the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, being moved by the White City, then went west across the Great Plains to Denver, seeing the Rockies on the horizon looming over the Plains. And she was moved by the beauty of our country and its original intent to be a land of freedom and mutual love and tolerance, and apostrophized the country with a petition to God to grant it self-control and brotherhood in the process. You may know the song. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/24 "2001-11-29T16:01:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Syzygy \* > Um, what do you say when someone sneezes? “Where’s your Jesus now, God boy?” --from a thread I cannot find now, but which I think was titled “What do atheists say when somebody sneezes?” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/25 "2001-11-29T16:07:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by freshmeat \* > \*\*“God bless America” > > I wonder if I’m the only one that finds this a bit rude and presumptuous. Commanding a god to do something when you are but a mere mortal never seems to be a good idea. > \*\* I don’t think it’s actually command. I think it’s the long-lost English subjunctive tense, which now pretty much only exists for “God bless…” and “If I were you…” It’s a verb used to express a desire, a hope, a possibility, a theoretical situation. It still exists in French and German, but it’s mostly gone for us. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/26 "2001-11-29T16:17:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homebrew \* > Did anyone else hear a whoosing noise overhead? \*\* If I did get Whoos[h]ed, I sincerely apologize to the poster, however I still don’t see the sarcasm. On the other hand, I’ve heard the exact sentiments over and over since September and I’m sick of it. So I sincerel apologize if I took something to heart that was to be taken lightly, if not, my opinion stays. Sam ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/27 "2001-11-29T16:17:28Z")
That’s why when somebody tells freshmeat to “have a nice day” he tells them to “Don’t fucking tell me what to do!” iampunha has it right. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/28 "2001-11-29T16:21:17Z")
Once again, I posted under **matt\_mcl** ’s name (hazards of working from your roommate’s computer…) I also forgot to add that if it had been a command, it would be “God, bless America,” because the imperative (command) tense doesn’t take a subject, and therefore the subject is extra, and needs to be separated out. And of course, the indicative would be “God blesses America.” I like the subjunctive. What’s wrong with a verb tense that distinguishes between reality and possibility? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/29 "2001-11-29T16:37:45Z")
Actually, it’s hortatory, **Hamish**. (Once defined as “relative to the contribution of a prostitute to the Conservative party” ;)) While I too like the subjunctive, it has specific limits for its use, and this is beyond them. The imperative mode by itself _implies_ an understood second-person subject, with the person addressed named in apposition to it as a vocative, but does not **mandate** it. “Let’s do lunch” (aside from being tacky) is imperative. And imperative mode is usable for requests and offers, as well as orders and commands. “Prithee do me the honor of joining me for a glass of wine” is imperative in structure, but hardly anything in the line of a mandate. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/30 "2001-11-29T16:46:08Z")
Well said **Poly** , but isn’t it “imperative mood” rather than “mode”? And isn’t it really more of an optative than an imperative? As you say, the imperative strictly speaking implies a second-person subject, which the phrase “[may] God bless America” doesn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/31 "2001-11-29T17:31:32Z")
I have to say that the Spanish subjunctive tense has been my bane in learning that language. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/32 "2001-11-29T17:39:34Z")
Yes, **GaWd** , you were whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/33 "2001-11-29T17:47:47Z")
The hortatory is a species of the subjunctive. > [@](#): > > “Let’s do lunch” (aside from being tacky) is imperative It could be imperative or subjunctive, depending on the punctuation or inflection of the voice. The morphology is ambiguous. > [@](#): > > And isn’t it really more of an optative than an imperative? As you say, the imperative strictly speaking implies a second-person subject, which the phrase “[may] God bless America” doesn’t have. I actually don’t think that it’s all that optatival [sub]I’ve always wanted to say that[/sub]. The optative is even farther removed from reality than the subjunctive, hence it is most commonly used to conditions which are contrary to fact or in secondary tense final clauses. Hell, I’d be inclined to argue that such a nuance hardly exists in English grammar or syntax. The context is what gives a verb its optatival overtones, not the morphology. And only the second person imperative implies any kind of second person subject. There is also a third person imperative, too. MR ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Baroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Billy\_Baroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Baroo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/34 "2001-11-29T18:03:16Z")
May God put a pox on **freshmeat** for being a nattering twit. Is that better? If not, sorry - I normally only talk to God right before I nut. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/35 "2001-11-29T18:14:55Z")
“The wages of syntax is the death of threads”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/36 "2001-11-29T18:20:07Z")
God, get me a beer now. Please. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/37 "2001-11-29T18:30:26Z")
What about “if Jesus pleases, may he bless your sneezes”. My muse is Leaping Lanny Poffo, the Poet Laureate of the WWF. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/38 "2001-11-29T18:37:22Z")
That was so well done, **Poly**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![More\_Cowbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@More\_Cowbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/More_Cowbell)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/39 "2001-11-29T18:55:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Syzygy \* > \*\*Um, what do you say when someone sneezes? > \*\* I prefer “You are SO good looking!” 😃 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manwithaplan \* > \*\*My muse is Leaping Lanny Poffo, the Poet Laureate of the WWF > \*\* But he wasn’t even the best Poffo to wrestle in the WWF. Of course neither “Ooo yeah” or “Snap into a Slim Jim” would be appropriate after a sneeze, now would it? ---
**Author:** ![freshmeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@freshmeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freshmeat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867/40 "2001-11-30T01:38:39Z")
So what does it mean when I say something like “Mr. Cynical kiss my ass”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-telling-god-what-to-do-please/95867.md?page=3)