Dermot

[Tim]

First to let everyone know where I'm coming from, although I classify myself as non-gay and non-straight...I'm just Tim, I'm also a Christian. After living with someone for four years who was facing the same feelings as Dermot, I found his reactions to be almost the same. There was anger, rejection of his church (he was also Catholic) and withdrawal from organized religion.

Most of you know who I'm talking about. Through it all, he never lost his faith. He was angry with God but never to the point of rejecting God. Having been through this with him, I think the author did a brilliant job in describing Dermot's reactions...grief then anger then questioning.

As for being blindsided by the religious content, it was there from the first chapters and developed as the story went on...it was no surprise to me. The author never mislead or tricked anyone. Some here criticize him for pushing his religious point of view. Don't all authors push their point of view in their stories? Why should this author's point of view, on a subject he chose to write about, be treated any differently than any other author's point of view expressed in the stories they choose to write.?

This story was troubling to me but for personal memories he brought back to the surface. I think it's a great story and we here are lucky to have it on AD!

Tim

[Mountain Dude]

I don't know.... The story was completed on Tuesday and I read it at one sitting, based on VWL's recommendation. It is complete at twelve chapters with the entire story taking place in a hospital room but I found the story entertaining... romantic and enlightening... especially Chapter Eleven.

Our religious faith is something we can choose or change or ignore. Sexual orientation is not. But I found the dialogue between the priest and Dermot quite interesting and informative. Of course, it is obvious the author -and by transference, the protagonist Dermot- to be well read and possessing intellectual curiousity. As the story explains, the kid was not a low class street urchin but a good student who fell upon bad luck.

Let's face it, approximately one in ten Catholics, Mormons, Baptists, Jews & Muslims are are gay. And the number among Catholic priests is possibly even higher. To deny that there are people who are both religious and gay would be a mistake. I think that the author making a case for reconciling Catholicism and homosexuality here is fine and can't find anything wrong with that.

I liked the story so much, in fact, that it will be coming to the pages of AwesomeDude as a complete novel in 12 chapters in the near future. AwesomeDude tries to be a diverse site and I think the story was written well and would fit in nicely.

Along these same lines, I'm looking at a novel set in Egypt about a young gay couple which also carries a Muslim religious theme.

Come on, let's lighten up and be more diverse!

I agree with Dude, I have only gotten to ch 7 yesterday and was pleased to see part ll appear today.

[colinian]

P.S. I do not understand Colin's post of 6 November.

Glad you said that, Pertinax! I haven't got a clue either.

I guess the reason you guys are confused is because I didn't post anything on 6 November. I did post a comment on 5 November and I edited it on 9 November to hide text that describes things about the last few chapters of the story. That's a spoiler that, to be read, has to be selected.

Colin

[Pertinax]

The quotation to which I was referring is dated November 6, although I have no idea when you sent it. However, after reading your response, I did figure out how to read it. Thanks.

P.S. Quotation is a noun. Quote is a verb.

[colinian]

P.S. Quotation is a noun. Quote is a verb.

Ah, but "Quote" is part of standard computer terminology and is properly used by the developer of the IP.Board software used by Awesome Dude for this forum. This is also another example of how the English language changes and morphs into something different all of the time, and gives those interested in linguistics things to write and read and talk about.

Colin

[Cole Parker]

OneLook.com shows 27 dictionaries having a definition for 'quote', and while I didn't check them all, I checked several, and they all had the word listed as both a noun and a verb.

Of course, it's obvious that 'quote' can be used as a noun, as in the sentence: I'm still waiting for a quote from my septic tank service; I hope they hurry.

But I think--my personal opinion is--'quote' meaning quotation has come into common usage. People tend to be lazy. I'd guess lots of our language modifications have that as a root cause.

C

[dude]

But I think--my personal opinion is--'quote' meaning quotation has come into common usage. People tend to be lazy. I'd guess lots of our language modifications have that as a root cause.

Yes like using 'host' as a verb, replacing for formerly noun-only usage as in "play host to."

[DesDownunder]

I saw a reference, somewhere, don't know where, don't know who, that any noun is subject to being used as a verb. Some instances seem a little obscure to me, but the quote / quotation example is fairly common usage, I would have thought.

[The Pecman]

Quote I don't have a problem with. You can "quote" an article or you can print a "quote" as part of a news story.

What makes me nuts is when people use IMPACT as a verb. "Chrysler's collapse will impact the economy in a negative way." Hate it. Maybe I'm just old-school, but to me, the right way to use the word is, "Chrysler's collapse will have a negative impact on the economy." Is that so hard?

[Bruin Fisher]

What makes me nuts is when people use IMPACT as a verb.

Don't get me started. How about 'leverage' used as a verb? "We leveraged the parent company's buying power to negotiate a better deal". I could forgive using 'lever' as a verb - "he levered the nail up with the claw end of a hammer" but leverage is a distortion too far for me. Spoken, I think it's always pronounced the American way, 'levveraged', rather than the British way 'leaveraged'.

There are other horrors, but giving one of them some daylight is as much I can bear.

[DesDownunder]

Quote I don't have a problem with. You can "quote" an article or you can print a "quote" as part of a news story.

What makes me nuts is when people use IMPACT as a verb. "Chrysler's collapse will impact the economy in a negative way." Hate it. Maybe I'm just old-school, but to me, the right way to use the word is, "Chrysler's collapse will have a negative impact on the economy." Is that so hard?

Not hard at all Pec, but the problem is that your sentence structure is concise, informative and eloquent, none of which are appreciated by modern management.

The first form of the sentence is media sensationalism, designed to grab attention and engender a response in the reader.

Your alternative is an objective statement.

[DesDownunder]

Don't get me started. How about 'leverage' used as a verb? "We leveraged the parent company's buying power to negotiate a better deal". I could forgive using 'lever' as a verb - "he levered the nail up with the claw end of a hammer" but leverage is a distortion too far for me. Spoken, I think it's always pronounced the American way, 'levveraged', rather than the British way 'leaveraged'.

There are other horrors, but giving one of them some daylight is as much I can bear.

Don't get me started either Bruin. What say we organise a class for our American buddies to learn basic rules of English pronunciation?

Just joking.

(Sort of.)

[Cole Parker]

Other writers before us have been upset by the perversion of the language. Rex Stout, speaking through his character Nero Wolfe, mentions in several of his books his loathing of the modern use of the word 'contact' as a verb. He was so hostile to the word being used in that way, and its sanctioning by lexicographers, he spent some time in one episode buring the large version of the latest edition at that time of the Webster dictionary, a few pages at a time.

C

[colinian]

English is a living language and is being altered every day by millions of people who use this language. John McWhorter, a respected and well-know linguist, has said that the line separating nouns and verbs is slowly but surely being eliminated, and more and more words are being used as both nouns and verbs. This sort of thing drives high school English teachers crazy because many of the changes to the language are initiated by teens. Now that I'm (barely) no longer a teen I could sneer at them for changing "our" language, but I won't because I think it's a good thing. When a language stops changing it shows that the people who were native speakers of that language are dead... i.e., Latin!

Change is good... it keeps the little grey cells active.

Colin

[Bruin Fisher]

Yes, Colin I agree entirely. And yes, it's good that language evolves.

I suspect the pace of change is governed by teenagers pushing, and curmudgeonly oldsters pulling on the brake. And it seems to be working, by and large - the worst excesses of teen-speak don't get into the standard vocabulary, but the better innovations do. Still not happy with leverage, though!!