1. Comment #209545 by Dax on July 12, 2008 at 3:04 pm

Better watch out Professor Dawkins, God is cooking up a nice lightning bolt for you...

Of course, he's rather busy not answering prayers otherwise we would've had world peace by now. I mean, if even the Pope asks for it, and God is unwilling to grant it, what can a mare mortal expect?

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2. Comment #209546 by 8teist on July 12, 2008 at 3:06 pm

Heck, I need a lightning bolt in the morning just to get my heart started.

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3. Comment #209550 by AllanW on July 12, 2008 at 3:13 pm

You know, Richard is pulling-off a remarkable feat; he is becoming more and more notable in society while remaining out of the reach of 'Private Eye'. I can't think of many public figures who consistently fail to be ridiculed by that esteemed organ. Congratulations Richard and long may it continue.

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4. Comment #209563 by Mango on July 12, 2008 at 3:51 pm

Carnac the Magnificent... "Female bishops, gay clergy, and Richard Dawkins". "People who are bringing down the church." "Ha-ha! You are correct sir!"

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5. Comment #209567 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Wasn't Richard smote last week?

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6. Comment #209578 by guyinsfca on July 12, 2008 at 4:53 pm

OMG this is so offensive to me ... lets destroy some catholic embassy and go all Jihad on who ever did this cartoon!

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7. Comment #209616 by Elles on July 12, 2008 at 8:21 pm

TEEHEE!

I hope somebody makes a prayer like that for me someday. "And in thy wisdom, forget not to smite female bishops, gay clergy, and Elles."

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8. Comment #209617 by Laurie Fraser on July 12, 2008 at 8:26 pm

Is the past perfect of the verb "to smite" "smitten"?

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9. Comment #209618 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 8:34 pm

Laurie

I had to look it up last time I used it. The crappy yahoo dictionary I used gave both smote and smitten as acceptable. I thought smitten sounded more like he fell in love with something so I chose smote.

[edit] When my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday last year, I said, "A complete set of the OED". "What's that?" "Oh, it's a dictionary."
"Oh, OK" Next day, "Your not getting that damn dictionary". I guess the price kind of shocked her, hee hee.

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10. Comment #209619 by flobear on July 12, 2008 at 8:39 pm

Laurie:

I believe it's smotified.

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11. Comment #209620 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 8:44 pm

Er war gesmoted würden sein.

Damn, can't get my umlaut in the right place.

Oh, worked after the third try.

Damn, it looks fine when I type it, then it shows up ok, when I come back, it's a f'd up again.

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12. Comment #209621 by steveroot on July 12, 2008 at 8:44 pm

8. Comment #209617 by Laurie Fraser on July 12, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Is the past perfect of the verb "to smite" "smitten"?

This reminds me of the misuse of "smote" in the movie "The Two Towers", when Gandalf describes his fight with the Balrog and how he "smote his ruin on the mountain top". Bah!
Ste5e

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13. Comment #209635 by irate_atheist on July 12, 2008 at 10:26 pm

When one sees the likes of Robert Mugabe ruling countries, one (almost) wishes there were gods. The sort that could throw a thunderbolt or two and say, 'Take that you little fucker'.

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14. Comment #209729 by reason-first on July 13, 2008 at 5:56 am

Just a try

ä ö ü


Seeems to work.


@mordacious1

So type: "w" "&" directly followed by "uuml" directly followed by ";" "rden" to get "würden".

You are right! Same problem. Mmh

Can anyone help?

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15. Comment #209733 by AllanW on July 13, 2008 at 6:09 am

'Can anyone help? '

Yes. Don't use them and stick to modern phonetic German spelling; many do nowadays.

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16. Comment #209736 by Laurie Fraser on July 13, 2008 at 6:21 am

Mord,
"smote" is fine as the past simple, e.g. "And the Lord smote the Ammonites" (the miserable fucker), but in the perfect tense wouldn't you have "And lo - the Ammonites had been smitten by the Lord". (he just can't help himself, can he?)

I just find it amusing that a word that can mean "to kill" has also the sense of falling in love. Funny old language, English.

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17. Comment #212027 by yesspam on July 16, 2008 at 1:38 pm

What the C of E really desperately needs now is a few gay female bishops to pull in the punters.

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18. Comment #212044 by Epinephrine on July 16, 2008 at 2:03 pm

Mordacious1 -

My wife got me the Compact OED - it's the whole thing, just in one big volume, printed 9 pages per page. You can read it without a magnifying glass, if you have good eyes...

But it's a heck of a lot cheaper than the 20 volume version.

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19. Comment #212052 by Gregg Townsend on July 16, 2008 at 2:15 pm

8. Comment #209617 by Laurie Fraser

I always thought it was "smotipated"

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20. Comment #233829 by wouldbesakota on August 20, 2008 at 12:51 pm

Figures they'd give it a shot. I doubt "God" gives a crap. 'tis funny though

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21. Comment #233841 by scottishgeologist on August 20, 2008 at 1:07 pm

"Smite" is a great word.

Today I smite
Tomorrow I will smite
Yesterday I smote
Having smut.....???

Anyway, for a real smitey laugh have a look at the "Book of Ehud" courtesy of Private Eye:

http://lebanonproxybattleground.blogspot.com/2006/08/book-of-ehud.html

Serously amusing!

:-))
SG

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22. Comment #233855 by Polydactyl on August 20, 2008 at 1:23 pm

smite: an Old English strong verb, so many and various historical forms. The ones surviving in Modern English are 'smite' in the present, meaning 'to strike [a blow]', 'smote' is the past,and 'smitten' the past participle.
Love strikes you down, you see!

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