On 'taking a wife'
The English language, like probably most languages, is a slippery thing. Words don't always mean what you think they mean.
Take, for example, the notion of one person 'taking' another as their spouse. Do you, A, take B to be your lawfully wedded wife?
seems to have a gentle, perhaps romantic air about it. It's common, and usual, and probably has connotations of an accepted proposal which asked Will you marry me?
Which is why it was only today, while reading about cultures where women and men speak different languages, I realised that taking wives
in historical accounts is in no way gentle. It's a man's word for rape and slavery:
…groups of Carib warriors conquered them, killed most of the men, and took the women as wives. …
…he ordered his crew to kill all the men on the island. … many of his crew stayed behind to make wives of the remaining women.
Source: Cultures Where Men and Women Don't Speak the Same Language.
This is that other meaning of 'take': using force to remove. Here it means slavery. I have no doubt that no-one approached any of the women with some kind of 'proposal' to which they agreed. No, these women were forcibly removed and then obliged to perform sexual acts with their enslavers.
So why do writers use the innocent-sounding term take as a wife
?
Next time I read historical accounts of men taking
women as their wives, I'll pause and ponder what was really going on: rape and slavery.
LOL: D.E.B.S. (2004 film) was amusing. Shades of Charlie’s Angels, Buffy, Desert Hearts. The big award for graduation was a ‘Mary Jane’. The big bad was gorgeous Lucy Diamond, whose car had the number plate: NDASKY. A fun way to spend 90 minutes.
I watched and enjoyed the movie 28 Days. It’s from 2000 and lead Sandra Bullock looks a whole lot younger.
When Gwen crashes a car while drunk she’s sentenced to 28 days rehab.
Help! I simply cannot get @cleverdevil On This Day script to produce any entries on my page at miraz.me/odt . The key bit I have is: src=“https://micromemories.cleverdevil.io/js?tz=NZST”. I suspect the NZ time code may be incorrect. Anyone have any ideas?
The verdict from one person on the opening day of whitebaiting season was: “slim pickings”.
NZ whitebait are juveniles of 5 galaxiid species which live as adults in freshwater rivers and streams. 4 of 5 species have been classified by Department of Conservation as endangered.
Numb face, aching jaw. 40 minutes at the dentist to get the new crown put on but there was some problem and it didn’t fit. Ah well, at least that delays the final payment by a couple more weeks.
How does an empty bottle of Finlandia vodka of Finland come to end up on a beach in New Zealand, I ask myself.
One of my Mac’s must-have apps is Keyboard Maestro because it’s in use all-day every day, working so I don’t have to. Today v9 has been released. KM opens workspaces at the right time, reminds me to feed the dogs, does calculations, shows info. What would I do without it?
Oops. I was actually using my hand to try to shade the phone from the sun, but I actually like the effect. River mouth after days of rain and somewhat stormy weather.
Interesting sand ‘cliff' left behind by today’s tide. It’s actually less than a metre high. Check out Sasha’s tail as an indicator of the stiff breeze. 🐶
A very interesting 16 minute video: how 2 kinds of echolocation — passive and active — can help build a picture of the world around us. How Blind People See With Sound
Molly’s brain has adapted to listen to sounds in…in ways that most of us sighted people can’t even imagine.
Woohoo, NetNewsWire for Mac is now in beta release. If you read RSS feeds and have a Mac give it a try. It’s a ~massive~ 5MB download. 😀 If you don’t read RSS feeds then absolutely give it a try. RSS is the best! and NNW is the best of the best.
Every day I like to do a free puzzle from Jigsaw Puzzles Epic. Some days I don’t finish and save it for later. While I play I listen to some of the 10 stories in Te Reo Māori from my course. It’s a great way to multitask. Pics: a puzzle and Māui me te Rā — Māui slows the Sun.
I’m watching Newton’s Law on Netflix and am enjoying it. It’s a lightweight series about a lawyer. And it actually fits with @macgenie challenge topic relief, because in a world dominated by US TV shows I’m so relieved to see one from neighbour Australia. Only 8 episodes. 😒
This Southern Bell frog didn’t actually need the support I was about to offer when I found her on the grasses in the garden. Recently I’ve found quite a few dead frogs. @macgenie One-handed iPhone photos are tricky…
I enjoyed Season 1 of Another Life, in spite of some very hokey moments and some icky ‘horror' bits. I’ll watch Season 2, if there is one. There were interesting turns in the plot, and all characters got time in the spotlight. Photo: Katee Sackhoff as Niko, works at a console.
So, Determination, @macgenie. In 2004 and 2019 I visited Tāne Mahuta, a Kauri tree 2,000 years old and part of the Māori creation story. Two millennia of life! Now threatened by Kauri dieback disease, but NZ is determined to keep it alive. 😒 There’s a whole forest in the crown.
How did I get ahead of myself? Cabbage trees like to grow in groups. Family, @macgenie Can you see the young ones?
Oh dear. Watched Io, a post-apocalyptic SciFi movie on Netflix. I did watch to the end but it was hard going. ‘Meaningful’, with many unsatisfactory elements.
Sam Walden is one of few humans remaining on Earth. She lives alone at high altitude, where the air is still breathable
In other places people admire fresh snow. I admire fresh sand.
