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English word order and bumper stickers

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 14:24
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
we have moved from humble petition to stunning presumption!

I mean, let's assume for the moment that God exists; let's assume,
furthermore, that He is even the God of Abraham and Isaac as originally
described in Jewish scripture.  Why would He need, want, or even care
about America's blessing?

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.

-Marcos