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Old 23-08-2009, 08:41 AM   #13
arete
If All Else Fails, Play Dead
 
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Waterside, South Africa
Posts: 3,138
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Proper spelling voertsek. Prob'ly from Dutch. Used to tell dogs to go away, usually when they're barking at you, and if they don't listen you start throwing sticks at them. So telling a person to voetsek is implying canines in their ancestry. I'll send my seconds round, Saccade. I'm offering choice of weapons to you, of course. ... My word today is the hebrew word for peace: shalom. Not just the absence of conflict, but the total opposite. Rest, tranquillity, wholeness, soundness, a sense of quiet contentment and prosperity. No one in biblical times asked how someone was, but instead would ask "How fares the peace of so-and-so?" Not how fares the war, but how fares the peace (prosperity, soundness, progress) of the war? The Greek eirene is used in a similar sense.
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