Friday, May 18, 2007

Definition of the day

Pray v.

To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

From The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Pierce


7 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:43 pm

    That is so good I'll swallow the spluttering and join in:

    Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.

    Religion. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

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  2. KILT, n. A costume sometimes worn by Scotchmen in America and Americans in Scotland.

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  3. Anonymous3:58 pm

    Here's one I'd like to dedicate to Dawkins, Hitchens and all my good rationalist friends whose beliefs are based solely on hard, material, first-order evidence:

    Positive, adj.: Mistaken at the top of one's voice.

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  4. My favourite:
    GRAMMAR, n. A series of pitfalls thoughtfully prepared for the feet of the self-made man, along the path by which he advances to distiction.

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  5. SAINT, n. A dead sinner revised and edited.

    Ambrose Bierce

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  6. The only one I remember:

    CONSERVATIVE, n.
    A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

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  7. Idiot

    A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling.

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