Comments on: Is Bible Thumping Effective?

By: Steve Rosenbaum

Steve Rosenbaum — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:42:51 +0000

Your context is right. I’m always interested in how expression happen. For example, how about the expression, your name is mudd!

Here’s the answer:

John Wilkes Booth broke his leg while escaping after shooting Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He was given medical help by Dr Samuel Mudd, who didn’t then know about the assassination. Mudd was convicted of being Booth’s conspirator, although he is widely believed to have been innocent. Actually, whether Mudd was innocent or not is of little consequence in regard to the origin of this phrase. It was in general circulation before Lincoln was assassinated. This comes from John Badcock’s (aka ‘J. Bee’) Slang – A dictionary of the turf etc., 1823:

“Mud – a stupid twaddling fellow. ‘And his name is mud!’ ejaculated upon the conclusion of a silly oration, or of a leader in the Courier.”

By: James Dalman

James Dalman — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:16:03 +0000

@DM – Thanks for coming by and your response! I wouldn’t have known the “hot-link” deal either and it’s cool you apologized. It’s great that a simple misunderstanding was made right!

The hard thing with blogs and posts is that sometimes we don’t get an actual feel for what the person may be really saying. It opens up for misinterpretation – a small downfall to technology.

What is a shame is when Christian people DO get venomous or snippy in order to prove their point. Of course sometimes we are human and make mistakes, but I have seen some bloggers who seem to enjoy throwing stones.

Thanks again for your input!

@Steve – I honestly have no clue and have only heard it as an expression growing up. I could have used the terminology wrong for this application as I am definitely not a scholar! LOL. Please let me know if you find out the answer.

By: Steve Rosenbaum

Steve Rosenbaum — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:40:41 +0000

I’m always fascinated with etymology. We’re does the expression “Bible Thumping” come from. Do you know the origins?

By: DM

DM — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:56:22 +0000

The title of your post caught my eye. This is such an important topic..how we communicate to other people, whether it’s about doctrinal discussions or just our interactions with people in general (both on the internet and our day to day dealings)
Last month I “hot-linked” a photo to my blog and got a kind but firm note from someone who I’m guessing may not be a believer. I am still new to many aspects of the internet and didn’t realize it was not appropriate. I had to ask what “hot-link” even ment. To make a long story short…I apologized to the person, made things right..a couple of days later on my blog she posted this comment:

” On a more personal level, I’ve appreciated your respectful and polite treatment of me, a relative stranger. I really think how people treat the semi-anonymous sort of human contact that we have across the internet says a lot about the sort of people they are deep inside. ”
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It also bothers me ALOT when “Christian” brothers and sisters snip at each other. good post!