Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

I’m generally a K.I.S.S. principle kind of guy, that is, Keep It Simple S.…d.  And sometimes it seems that the use of many words can violate that principle quite quickly.  After all, why use a whole bunch of words when fewer words can keep it simple? Consider each of these individual words: Glad:  experiencing pleasure, joy, or delight; feeling pleased and happy.  Rejoice:  to give joy to; gladden; to feel or show great happiness. Happy:  feeling, showing, or causing pleasure or satisfaction; causing joy or gladness Joyful:  feeling, expressing, or causing great pleasure and happiness. If you want to be simple and concise, you could probably just use any one of those descriptive words in a sentence.  In many ways, they are mostly interchangeable so just use one or two at the most. But using all four in one sentence; too verbose?  Overkill?  A violation of the K.I.S.S. principle? Look at what the Psalmist wrote:  “But...

I love words that have multiple meanings but the same spelling.  Take the word “present” for example.  You may be thinking of “present”, as in a gift.  Gotta love those! But I’m thinking of “present”, as in existing now or occurring now. I’m also thinking of “present”, as in being at hand. Why those two latter ones, you might ask, why not just go with the gift! Well, I recently read Psalm 46, and here is the first verse:   “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Some theologians suggest the word “present” in this Psalm has the meaning of “well proven”.  I certainly can appreciate that. But I’ve been wondering if “present” could include the meaning of “now existing or now occurring”.  That is, God is exists now and is occurring in our lives. Furthermore, I’ve been wondering if “present” could also include “being at hand”.  That is, God is here, right now, with us.   And with even further wondering, the wo...