Today at church I heard a few things that always annoy me for some reason. I know for the most part people don't really realize they're misspeaking, or they're using archaic terms, or just don't think about what the things they say actually mean. I will outline the three most annoying church-related terms that we commonly hear:
Pre-existence: This term was admittedly used for many years before people realized it was rather a misnomer. We always existed (at least as far back as we know). If you refer to your recent edition of the divinely-inspired missionary tool, "Preach My Gospel", while you will find much reference to the Plan of Salvation, you will not find the term "pre-existence" used once. What you will find instead is the more correct "pre-earth life", or occasionally "pre-mortal existence". Like we talked about in Sunday School today, it's important to realize that before we came to earth, we DID exist, we lived and walked and talked with our Heavenly Father, and this is important to know because it helps us better understand our purpose on earth and our potential hereafter.
Free agency: Again, this was used for years and years, until someone must have realized... Agency isn't free! It's been paid for by the all-encompassing atoning blood of Christ! Someone had to pay in order for us to have freedom of choice and agency. Again, perusal through recent church publications for use of this term in its entirety will not yield many results.
Enzun: This mispronunciation of "Ensign" seems totally incomprehensible to me. It looks like one of the most phonetic words ever to be produced by the english language! En-sign! It's just that easy, folks. I suppose there could be an alternate pronunciation, based on your dialect or whatever, but it seems obvious how it's pronounced. Enzun indeed!
Anyway, that is all for now. Just a couple of my pet peeves. And if you can't rant on your blog, where can you? Maybe I'll do a series of random pet peeves of mine, ha ha.
Ensign is commonly mispronounced because there is a military rank spelled the same way and pronounced "enzun".
ReplyDeleteEnsign (IPA: [ˈɛnsən]) is a junior rank of commissioned officer in the militaries of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name.
That used to bug me a little too - till I realized they are just saying it the only way they previously learned how - or they use the pronunciation they have always used (since I mostly hear it from older men who have previously served in the military) even though the two words have different meanings.
I don't know if that makes it less annoying to you or not - just thought I would point that out. :)
Interesting. And thanks for the information! I had heard of that before, now that I think of it, and that makes it a little more comprehensible in general.
ReplyDeleteI am a proud sayer of: En Sign. I hate Enzun.
ReplyDeleteI wholly agree with all three!
ReplyDeleteYes, yes to all.
ReplyDelete