Bugs and Buggery (Don't Worry, Simon...)

by NeonMadman 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • NeonMadman
    NeonMadman

    There was a thread a while back about stupid counsel that was given by elders, but I didn't think of this one while it was active.

    I was a teenager back in the late 1960's and early 1970's. At that time, it was rather common to use the term "bug" to mean "annoy" or "bother"; i.e. "You're really bugging me." (I guess such usage of the term has not yet faded away completely) Anyway, I recall using that expression once in the presence of an elder who promptly counseled me that that expression was not to be used by Christians, since it derived from the term, "buggery." So if I said that someone was "bugging" me, that meant that they were having anal sex with me (presumably against my will). In retrospect, I think I would have found that to be much more than "annoying" or "bothersome."

    When this memory popped into my head the other day, it seemed obvious to me (why I had never thought it through before, I have no idea) that the expression must have originated with the idea of an insect flitting around one's head, causing an annoyance, i.e., "bugging" the person. It certainly makes a lot more sense to me than the elder's theory.

    Which led immediately to another thought: Where the heck was that elder's mind, anyway?

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    It sounds like that elder was bugging himself with his head.

  • Swan
    Swan

    FYI: In Information Technology we find bugs in our computer programs and we de-bug them to fix them. The term comes from the very early days of computers when, literally, a moth crawled inside the hardware itself and kept some of the relays from connecting.

    Tammy

  • NeonMadman
    NeonMadman
    FYI: In Information Technology we find bugs in our computer programs and we de-bug them to fix them. The term comes from the very early days of computers when, literally, a moth crawled inside the hardware itself and kept some of the relays from connecting.

    Actually, I did know that. I think they mentioned it in an Intro computer course I took back in the pre-Windows days.

    Of course, that elder probably would have thought the term was derived from the intimate acts of gay male programmers...

  • RAYZORBLADE
    RAYZORBLADE

    Hey NeonMadman: doesn't surprise me that that elder would go 'to-hell-with-the-joke' with regards to a mere word, and HIS interpretation.

    I wonder what their interpretation of the word (ass) would be. Think of Balaam (spelling, unsure)?

    Their minds are constant mind-police patrol 24/7.

    How depressing.

    The word bug has many meanings these days.

    "Go away Brother Elder, you're BUGGING me!"

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