Re: English word order and bumper stickers

"Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...> wrote:

>Saw a bumper sticker this morning that gave me pause:
>                AMERICA BLESS GOD
>Now, this is not the appropriate forum to discuss my feelings on the
>USA's recent theocratic tendencies, nor do I wish to do so.  No, what
>we have here is a striking example of the importance of word order in
>English.  Sure, we have subject becoming object and vice-versa, but
>that's old hat; "dog bites man",  etc.  But in the same swell foop
....

>Of course, I assume that we have a simple mistake in intent, where the
>author hasn't quite twigged onto the unidirectionality of mortal/deity
>interaction verbs in English, i.e. gods do the blessing, while worshippers
>are limited to praise/cursing, supplication, etc.
That's the most common usage for "bless", but not the only one.  "Bless"
can also be used as more or less a synonym of "praise",
and in this sense is typically used with a human as the subject and God
as object.

Luke 2:28:
"Then took he [Simeon] him [Jesus] up in his arms, and blessed God,
and said: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace......"

Then there is the Litany of the Sacred Heart, which begins
"Blessed be God"; the passive participle implies that "bless" is
being used in the sense it's used in Luke 2:28 in most English
translations.

The author of the bumper sticker is therefore strongly suggesting that
Americans should praise God, in a manner elliptical, but not
ungrammatical.


- Jim Henry
http://www.mindspring.com/~jimhenry/conlang.htm