Monday, November 09, 2009

Coenobite

COENOBITE, n. A man who piously shuts himself up to meditate upon the sin of wickedness; and to keep it fresh in his mind joins a brotherhood of awful examples.
O Coenobite, O coenobite,
Monastical gregarian,
You differ from the anchorite,
That solitudinarian:
With vollied prayers you wound Old Nick;
With dropping shots he makes him sick.
Quincy Giles
2009 Update: A contemplative who leaves town and home in search of community.

28 comments:

the amoeba said...

COENOBITE, n. Inmate at a corporate retreat whose tasks are to contemplate their sins of excess and to downside all the operations of the firm except their own.

Nessa said...

I don't know why exactly, maybe the rhythm of the rhyme, but that poem is just so funny.

Don't we always go looking for what we already have?

Meet My Mates #3 - Quilly

pia said...

coenobite: the first Coen Brother's movie of course--Blood Simple

Anonymous said...

COENOBITE, n - Sarah Palin in her quest for the GOP nomination leaving Alaska and turning sites on the USofA

TLP said...

I'm on the same page as Pia.

COENOBITE: Preview for a Coen Brother's film.

Jim said...

I think I rather rite than bite.
If one is coed and the other not that would make a bigger differnce. I'd go coed.
..

sauerkraut said...

oh jimmy jones
oh jimmy jones
so many years later
nothing but dust and bones.

A branch davidian by any other name would not smell as burnt.

Jamie Dawn said...

We had a couples' retreat, and now I'm thinking we need to have a sin-contemplating retreat.

Leaving town and home in search of community... that is kind of heavy.

Speaking of heavy (and thickening authors and plots), Chandra AND Philippe are on my food agenda next time I'm in southern CA. That statement makes me sounds like a cannibal.

Ariel the Thief said...

Is coenobite another word for vampire?

Karen said...

coenobite me for staying away so long!

=grin=

k. riggs gardner said...

The Coen Brothers' movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou, is loosely based upon Homer's Odyssey.

I'm not quite sure who Big Dan Teague represents, but it's one of John Goodman's memorable roles. This line is great:

"Thank you boys for throwin' in that fricassee. I'm a man of large appetite, and even with lunch under my belt, I was feelin' a mite peckish."

Word verification: (sn)uggly

Doug The Una said...

Amoeba, you shouldn't have to go to Houston for that.

Not me, Nessa. I stay home and wait for it to come to me.

They got better after that, didn't they, Pia?

Thom, I think she has a crush on your Governor, too.

Good, TLP. No Trilobite, though?

Mite makes rite, Jim.

Funny, Sauerkraut. Kind of Texan today, aren't you?

JD, I like to think of the internet as one big sin-contemplating retreat. Luckily, I'm virtuous offline.

That's funny, Ariel, I though it might be a synonym for hungry man.

Karen, welcome back! I will not!

Polyphemus, I think, other Karen, the cyclops who trapped Odysseus and his crew until they got him drunk, poked out his eye and snuck away under the bellies of sheep (and you're welcome.) I was a big fan of that movie and that might be my favorite line.

TLP said...

Oh, right. Fine. Fine. (Does it scare you when a female says "fine?" It should.) It was bad enough that I had to look up coenobit. Now you send me to the dictionary to look up trilobite.

You are evil, sick, and twisted. I like that in a man. Lucky for you that you're too young, plus there's the incest thingie.

cooper said...

Nice definition. Is that perhaps why you disappear on weekends?

k. riggs gardner said...

Coop, as long as your here...I had an very odd twitter follower-request over the weekend. I was quite sure the account (ZipZap5079) was established in your name, as I recognize your picture. There were two tweets - the first was a very simple "flip."

I did not approve the account and it has since been disbanded.

Thoughts?

Ariel the Thief said...

The Coen brothers were my first thought when I read that word, too. I don't like "O Brother, Where Art Thou" but loved Goodman in it! Oh and I loved Blood Simple, too. :)

George Clooney keeps spoiling it for me, he and his "finally I have realized that I am a big actor and director" ways, but blame the brothers for I have finally realized that Tom Hanks IS a great actor. I loved to hate him, though...

Ariel the Thief said...

LOL TLP!

The Old Mule said...

Coenobite: (A disease from) The lethal bit of the Big Lebowski.

k. riggs gardner said...

In addition, Coop (j gaaa), 5079 is a distinctly personal number sequence. The probability of coincidence is astronomical.

Elbot said...

You can't fool me, coenobites come after terabytes.

Elbot said...

(like an infinite amount of bytes)

Doug The Una said...

TLP, evil, sick and twisted men have feelings, too. Don't scare me like that. Fine?

Ha, Cooper. You busted me as a weekend thinker.

Karen, maybe Coop can help you. I don't tweet.

Ariel, I think they could replace George Clooney with Tommy Lee Jones and do alright. But have some perspective- Clooney is never better than in a Coen bros. movie.

I hear that's infectious, Mule. Like Lyme disease, Dude.

Karen, Coop's birthday isn't May zeroth.

Elbot, you must be drooling just thinking about it.

Ariel the Thief said...

I find Clooney is never more annoying than in a Coen movie but what does a fox know? I just follow my nose. :-P

Cooper said...

Kare, sorry doug to talk on your blog, I have no idea I do know that people have been doing things like that on twitter, but otherwise I'm at a lose on that one.

k. riggs gardner said...

Whatever. It looked liked a dead poet society ~ with about 28 different poetic affiliates from all over the place.

There's nothing else I can do at this point but cut my losses.

Sorry Ambrose. You have my e-mail address. It's your move.

Doug The Una said...

Ariel, it would be interesting to see a mongoose review Coen Bros. movies.

I was pretty sure, Coop, not that I know what all this is.

Thanks for the notice, Karen.

Anonymous said...

ROFLMAO...I wouldn't put it past either one of them :)

Doug The Una said...

Heck no. I might not even turn away.