Comments on: The craving for forbidden fruit and the craving for legality http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:34:27 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Crooked Timber » » got up with the sun (as ’tis called) http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-116243 Crooked Timber » » got up with the sun (as ’tis called) Mon, 31 Oct 2005 14:54:34 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-116243 [...] My last post was about E.S. Turner’s Roads to Ruin, the Shocking History of Social Reform. One of the chapters is about daylight savings, a timely topic, so I’ll make it a two-part series. Here are a few choice samples of arguments against the pernicious practice. [...] [...] My last post was about E.S. Turner’s Roads to Ruin, the Shocking History of Social Reform. One of the chapters is about daylight savings, a timely topic, so I’ll make it a two-part series. Here are a few choice samples of arguments against the pernicious practice. [...]

]]> By: Tom http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-115348 Tom Sat, 29 Oct 2005 17:50:05 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-115348 I would have expected any change of the books in that room to have produced a conservative cause celebre -- were not those books specified by a donor? I read Paradise Lost in one of those chairs. I would have expected any change of the books in that room to have produced a conservative cause celebre—were not those books specified by a donor?

I read Paradise Lost in one of those chairs.

]]> By: leonsPetrazickis.blog » Blog Archive » Relax the sphincter, mule http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-115034 leonsPetrazickis.blog » Blog Archive » Relax the sphincter, mule Fri, 28 Oct 2005 06:21:44 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-115034 [...] Crooked Timber | The craving for forbidden fruit and the craving for legality - The nitty-gritty of marriage reform in 19th Century England. They outlawed marrying your dead wife’s sister in 1835 and then argued about relegalizing it until 1909. [...] [...] Crooked Timber | The craving for forbidden fruit and the craving for legality – The nitty-gritty of marriage reform in 19th Century England. They outlawed marrying your dead wife’s sister in 1835 and then argued about relegalizing it until 1909. [...]

]]> By: bordenl http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114925 bordenl Thu, 27 Oct 2005 03:39:39 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114925 Rashi must have commented on this, but we don't know what it was. Rashi must have commented on this, but we don’t know what it was.

]]> By: bordenl http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114924 bordenl Thu, 27 Oct 2005 03:37:47 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114924 Levirate marriage, the deceased husband's brother's marrying his widow, was not even practiced in Judaism after the destruction of the Temple, so it would be very iffy for Christianity. I put my head together with my husband, and we think that a Jewish man can marry his deceased wife's sister, because the passage says "You shall not take a woman in addition to her sister, <i>to make them rivals</i>". If the one woman is dead, how can they be rivals? Levirate marriage, the deceased husband’s brother’s marrying his widow, was not even practiced in Judaism after the destruction of the Temple, so it would be very iffy for Christianity. I put my head together with my husband, and we think that a Jewish man can marry his deceased wife’s sister, because the passage says “You shall not take a woman in addition to her sister, to make them rivals“. If the one woman is dead, how can they be rivals?

]]> By: serial catowner http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114744 serial catowner Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:43:33 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114744 Yes, but <i>Generation of Vipers</i> is quintessential rot- the very essence of rot- a book that dares, in floridly demented language, to denounce the very institution of motherhood. What's more, it comes from an author totally lacking in socially redeeming values, an author who has left nothing behind that might excuse even a fraction of his existence. Like Mount Everest, it may be useless, but it definitely is there. Yes, but Generation of Vipers is quintessential rot- the very essence of rot- a book that dares, in floridly demented language, to denounce the very institution of motherhood.

What’s more, it comes from an author totally lacking in socially redeeming values, an author who has left nothing behind that might excuse even a fraction of his existence.

Like Mount Everest, it may be useless, but it definitely is there.

]]> By: Alex http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114670 Alex Tue, 25 Oct 2005 09:56:33 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114670 That monster quote from Dr. Arnold's second paragraph contains only seven sentences...no wonder it felt painful to read. That monster quote from Dr. Arnold’s second paragraph contains only seven sentences…no wonder it felt painful to read.

]]> By: John Holbo http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114661 John Holbo Tue, 25 Oct 2005 04:59:55 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114661 Wow, lucky for pedant I didn't title the post 'Teh seamy side of liberalism', like I originally contemplated. Wow, lucky for pedant I didn’t title the post ‘Teh seamy side of liberalism’, like I originally contemplated.

]]> By: DonBoy http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114567 DonBoy Tue, 25 Oct 2005 02:00:46 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114567 In the early 1980s, in the Cambridge (Mass.) Public Library, I noticed an old book called something like "Heroines of the Recent Struggle Over Women's Suffrage". It was from 1921. I opened it and began to scan. Much to my surprise, each chapter was in praise of a different <i>anti-suffrage</i> woman. In the early 1980s, in the Cambridge (Mass.) Public Library, I noticed an old book called something like “Heroines of the Recent Struggle Over Women’s Suffrage”. It was from 1921. I opened it and began to scan. Much to my surprise, each chapter was in praise of a different anti-suffrage woman.

]]> By: Henry http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114547 Henry Tue, 25 Oct 2005 01:50:55 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114547 We have three copies (which apparently survived the fire and flood) at the Los Angeles Public Library. http://catalog1.lapl.org:80/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+21568+965+830514+1+-1. Come browse. And fellow pedant: you missed "baston," not to mention "wifes." You may be more of a tree than a transmission than you thought. We have three copies (which apparently survived the fire and flood) at the Los Angeles Public Library. http://catalog1.lapl.org:80/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+21568+965+830514+1+-1. Come browse.

And fellow pedant: you missed “baston,” not to mention “wifes.” You may be more of a tree than a transmission than you thought.

]]> By: A Pedant http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114541 A Pedant Tue, 25 Oct 2005 01:35:33 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114541 Could the author of the original post, or someone else with administrative access, please correct "wif'es" and "teh" in the penultimate paragraph? It's like unto a spike driven into my brain. I mean, Ow. Thank you. Could the author of the original post, or someone else with administrative access, please correct “wif’es” and “teh” in the penultimate paragraph?

It’s like unto a spike driven into my brain.

I mean, Ow.

Thank you.

]]> By: KCinDC http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114508 KCinDC Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:51:19 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114508 GMT, I don't want to spoil your fun, but are there any dictionaries that agree with your unusual etymology for "seamy"? The OED certainly has only the humdrum, straightforward story that the seamy side (of a garment, for example) is the one that has visible seams, and that the figurative sense originated with Shakespeare. GMT, I don’t want to spoil your fun, but are there any dictionaries that agree with your unusual etymology for “seamy”? The OED certainly has only the humdrum, straightforward story that the seamy side (of a garment, for example) is the one that has visible seams, and that the figurative sense originated with Shakespeare.

]]> By: rea http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114481 rea Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:30:55 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114481 "How could the “Deceased Husband’s Brother” law be the slippery slope, when that was already biblically mandated?" Possibly because a dispute over the alleged invalidity of such a marriage led to the fracture between the Church of England and Rome? (Hence the references to Henry VIII, whose first marriage was to his brother's widow). “How could the “Deceased Husband’s Brother” law be the slippery slope, when that was already biblically mandated?”

Possibly because a dispute over the alleged invalidity of such a marriage led to the fracture between the Church of England and Rome? (Hence the references to Henry VIII, whose first marriage was to his brother’s widow).

]]> By: togolosh http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114393 togolosh Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:24:53 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114393 <i>diseased craving for abnormal enlargements of personal liberty which is the seamy side of Liberalism.</i> Perfect. This is exactly why I am a liberal. It's the diseased craving, you see... diseased craving for abnormal enlargements of personal liberty which is the seamy side of Liberalism.

Perfect. This is exactly why I am a liberal. It’s the diseased craving, you see…

]]> By: Grand Moff Texan http://crookedtimber.org/2005/10/24/the-craving-for-forbidden-fruit-and-the-craving-for-legality/comment-page-1/#comment-114392 Grand Moff Texan Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:17:26 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=3969#comment-114392 <i>"diseased craving for abnormal enlargements of personal liberty which is the seamy side of Liberalism."</i> Considering what "seamy" still meant in 1876, I think the "abnormal enlargements" part hilariously funny. Surely this was a joke? "Liberalism's engorged gland has encrusted it with semen! Stereoöpticon at eleven!" Ack. . “diseased craving for abnormal enlargements of personal liberty which is the seamy side of Liberalism.”

Considering what “seamy” still meant in 1876, I think the “abnormal enlargements” part hilariously funny. Surely this was a joke? “Liberalism’s engorged gland has encrusted it with semen! Stereoöpticon at eleven!”

Ack.
.

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