Monday, July 28, 2008

Oath

OATH, n.  In law, a solemn appeal to the Deity, made binding upon the conscience by a penalty for perjury.

2008  Update:  A promise of future betrayal.

18 comments:

Unknown said...

i swear i am first

Ariel the Thief said...

English language is funny. "Swear" and "oath" both mean both to promise and to curse. There's wisdom in it.

Anonymous said...

That makes it much easier to make a promise.
I promise...let's just keep it at that ;)

Jamie Dawn said...

Your update is the best!!

Oath: Cross my heart, Hope to die, Stick a needle, In my eye. (My fingers were crossed when I said that.)

TLP said...

Meant to be broken.

Anonymous said...

oath: A promise made to take action, freely given, and usually heartfelt, that turns out differently than what was promised.

or

oath: A word often spoken by Wilford Brimley with a lisp. (This is a really bad pun, should it stay or should it go?)

Anonymous said...

OATH, n. Whath's for breakfasths.

Anonymous said...

You know, of course, the day the oath became not just a promise but also a cuss word? That was the day the first lawyer was born.

Jim said...

Oaf: A clumsy oaf stepped on my foot last night, it still hurts!

Oath: I swear I heard you say 'oaf.' Or was it 'oat?'
..

Nessa said...

I am very familiar with your definition of the word, Doug. No sooner do I make a pledge and I am compelled to do the opposite.

Anonymous said...

Agree with Jamie Dawn and TLP. An oath of office is a joke for a New York American

Anonymous said...

In literature, the veiled utterances of melodramatic villains or, less often, boors.

mireille said...

have you never heard of situational ethics? HUH? xoxo

Anonymous said...

oh oath aye

can you thee

by the dawn's early lie-th. ...

G said...

So to follow your definition - a fly in the disapp-ointment.

Okay, with that I'll go to bed.

G'night.

tsduff said...

As a dedicated Notary Public in California, I wanted you to know the penalty for messing up giving the sacred and law-abiding oath of the jurat... only I'm too lazy to look it up. Really, I pondered this all day.

Doug The Una said...

Karma, I testify it is so.

Ariel, English is the Chinese of the channel.

Kept, Mo'a.

JD, no take-backs!

TLP, and so it shall be, amen.

Poobah, it's oathay.

Amoeba, thath thauthage.

Ah yes, Quilly. The Litigant lobefish.

Oast, Jim. Wasn't it?

Nessa, as Augustine of Hippo wrote , that which I would do, I do not. That which I would not do, I do.

Pia, a New York American? Can such things be?

Weirsdo, in real life, mostly boors.

Mireille, it depends.

Sauerkraut, every American heart races at the sound of a lisping anthem.

Haha, G.

Terry, notaries are the conscience of America.

You'd be right, Lily.

Tom & Icy said...

Oath! That's sort of the sound Icy makes when she jumps off the step from the house.