I am not humming an old Neil Diamond tune, though it's hard to resist

[hummingwolf]

supergee has done us all a great service by alerting us to the latest blasphemy from AOL. You see, in a new marketing campaign, AOL has the nerve to repeatedly use the phrase "I AM"--repeatedly, I say!--which, as we all know, is one of the most common phrases in the English language, you twits "the English translation of YaHWeH, the self-proclaimed name of God."

"You must immediately change the name of your program," he [Ian Millar] told Jonathan Miller, the chief executive officer of America Online, and John Buckley, corporate communications officer for the company, in a pointed letter. I can assure you that you will lose business over this marketing tactic from people who worship the Almighty. But worse, you have offended Him by your actions; whether they are deliberate or ignorant. To treat as common the name of God is wicked...."

Yes, I can see that treating the most common verb in the English language as common is an outrage to all right-thinking people.

::sigh::

I am a Christian. I am not stupid. I am sick of people trying to convince us all that the one way to live a godly life involves turning off one's brain. That said, I am giving you a poll:

[Poll #664521]

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

i's daisy of borg. i have been assimilated.

we should all speak russian. you just say "I" without the "am." "I little duck," ya utichka. no blasphemy, but maybe some delusional thinking...

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I little teapot!

Or maybe it only seems that way after all the tea I had this morning.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

ha! wait, let me go to the translator...

я небольшой заварной чайник

ya (i) nebolshoi savarnoi chainik.

i may be transliterating wrong, but there you have it! you will not be stoned for blasphemy, promise. *g*

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Idiots...it's only the Hebrew form of "I am" that is supposed to be the name of God.

Which, by the way, is why Hebrew no longer has a verb for "to be".

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah. There are lots of reasons to dislike AOL, but the charge of blasphemy is pretty much insane.

[nalidoll.livejournal.com]

I tend to use the Royal We, anyways.

(Not that I expect that to surprise you.)

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Nope, no surprise there. Given the people who hang around on my friends list, I probably shouldn't be surprised that the Royal We is the most popular choice. Am a little surprised the Borg option didn't come in second place, though.

[paradigm-palace.livejournal.com]

This be awesome. You is brilliant.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you!

::curtsy::

[hraith.livejournal.com]

The problem with switching from "I am" to "I be" is that in a few years YHWH will translate directly into "I be" and then that will be blasphemous and we'll all have to switch back to "I am." Kind of like how "ass" was invented as a euphemism for "arse" and now the former is considered an obscenity while language filters don't even catch the latter.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I rather suspect that the evolution of language doesn't interest people who think like this. If they're the type who think the King James Version is the One True Translation, the change in vernacular English might not affect them anyway.