In a column published in fall 2004,a I discovered that excessive rain and other manifestations of nature-produced pain were the most common occurrences that writers in the popular press associated with the expression “of Biblical proportions.” Sensing that little if anything remains static, I decided to see what if any changes had occurred in this usage over the intervening years.
Always aiming for the cutting edge, I limited my search for the most part to stories appearing in 2015 and the first part of 2016. Although this expression seems (at least to me) of hoary origins, its first usage is from the mid-20th century (C.E., not B.C.E.!). However, antiquarians should not feel slighted in the least: The use of the adjective “Biblical” to mean “huge” has a much more storied pedigree, going back to the Middle English poem “Piers Plowman” (late 1300s).
Rains of “Biblical proportions” are a seasonal staple in Great Britain, as can be seen with this story from the Dover Express: “Last week’s thunderstorm was of Biblical proportions. It was so severe that I’d almost started to gather up the animals two by two.” With no distinctions between clean and unclean species!
The Irish Independent features two stories about the buoyancy of humans confronted by the travails of flooding: “Amid a downpour of almost Biblical proportions, Chelsea [the soccer team] were finally waving, not drowning … In the precipitation there was certainly perspiration … There were outstanding performances from back to front.”
So much for the human body. Now for the human spirit! “Even floods of near Biblical proportions couldn’t stop one elderly resident from attending Mass. Offaly native Evelyn Kennedy (97) wasn’t going to be deterred by the deluge, which has seen her family marooned for the past month … So the family mounted a chair on the tractor’s transport box, and Evelyn was wrapped up in warm clothes for the quarter-mile.” Score one for the priority of prayer!
Regular readers of this column know that I have a hankering, which can be aptly described as “of Biblical proportions,” for the inclusion of as many sports-related stories as I can get away with. So as not to disappoint, here is another—distinguished from the previous ones by the fact that there’s no rain, sleet, hail or volcanic ash involved here. From WalesOnline, rugby coach “Shaun Edwards has revealed the Biblical proportions of Wales’ World Cup win at Twickenham when even the local parish priest at Sunday morning mass … found himself caught up in the post match celebration … ‘I went to mass, and even the priest came out and put his hands up in the air to celebrate,’ said Edwards.”
Not one to save the best for last, I have nonetheless in this instance saved to report last that which is most meaningful to me and my work. It comes from The Times of London and bears the title “Error of Biblical Proportions Will Pay Off in the End.” It refers to “a 400-year-old Bible containing a rare typo in the Ten Commandments, urging people to have affairs. [It] is expected to sell for £15,000. It is one of nine remaining copies known as the Sinners’ Bible, or the Wicked Bible, printed in 1631. The seventh commandment is missing the word ‘not’ so states ‘thou shall commit adultery.’” Taking inflation, etc., into account, we calculate that the fine imposed on the 17th-century printers was three times the price the Bible was expected to fetch at auction in the 21st. Yes indeed, the error would be paying off, just not for the hapless Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the printers of the Sinners’ Bible!
In a column published in fall 2004,a I discovered that excessive rain and other manifestations of nature-produced pain were the most common occurrences that writers in the popular press associated with the expression “of Biblical proportions.” Sensing that little if anything remains static, I decided to see what if any changes had occurred in this usage over the intervening years. Always aiming for the cutting edge, I limited my search for the most part to stories appearing in 2015 and the first part of 2016. Although this expression seems (at least to me) of hoary origins, its first usage […]
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