Say What! Let the dead bury the dead/Shrouds have no pockets
Today's Say What! is a touch on the morbid side, as we consider two sayings, let the dead bury the dead and shrouds have no pockets. Our fannish examples are from Sapphire and Steel.
Let the dead bury the dead is actually a quote from the Bible and appears in two separate Gospel references, Matthew: chapter 8, verse 22, and Luke: chapter 9, verse 60. Many Bible references are the source of heated argument as to their exact meaning, and this is one of them. However, a general consensus is that this verse relates to the rejection of worldly concerns so that the mind can be turned to spiritual matters. In wider use, it's come to imply a pragmatic approach to life's issues - let the dead bury their dead, and pay attention to the concerns of the living.
Tully grew increasingly distressed at the state of 'those poor boys,' as he called the time-summoned apparitions on the railway station platform, and Steel grew increasingly irritated by the old man's intransigence. He'd prefer this vulnerable human gone.
"Let the dead bury the dead, Mr Tully," he said, but Tully only cast him a look of dislike and fingered his cross.
Shrouds have no pockets states that most basic fact: that you can't take it with you - 'it' being worldly wealth. The earliest written reference to this saying is dated from 1854. Shrouds, of course, are the winding sheets used to cover the dead, and have their origin from a time when good clothing was expensive. You didn't bury your father in his best suit because his best suit was part of the family inheritance and was to be handed on to the living.
This saying can be approached from two angles - given the time of its origin it was likely intended to refer to the futility of laying up earthly treasures. However, it's just as likely to be used in a sense of enjoying what you have now, because one day you'll be dead.
All Lord Mulrine's party guests were afflicted with a vague sense that something was amiss, especially when they looked at George McDee, dead for over twenty years. He had tucked his hands into the pockets of his suit, and Felix said, not so softly as he should, "So much for 'shrouds have no pockets'." He received a look of razor-sharp contempt from Emma for this faux pas.
The beauty of both these sayings is that they can be looked at from two sides - as a warning of the inevitability of mortality, and as a reminder to enjoy life while you can.
Links
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100503805
http://www.answers.com/topic/shrouds-have-no-pockets
Let the dead bury the dead is actually a quote from the Bible and appears in two separate Gospel references, Matthew: chapter 8, verse 22, and Luke: chapter 9, verse 60. Many Bible references are the source of heated argument as to their exact meaning, and this is one of them. However, a general consensus is that this verse relates to the rejection of worldly concerns so that the mind can be turned to spiritual matters. In wider use, it's come to imply a pragmatic approach to life's issues - let the dead bury their dead, and pay attention to the concerns of the living.
Tully grew increasingly distressed at the state of 'those poor boys,' as he called the time-summoned apparitions on the railway station platform, and Steel grew increasingly irritated by the old man's intransigence. He'd prefer this vulnerable human gone.
"Let the dead bury the dead, Mr Tully," he said, but Tully only cast him a look of dislike and fingered his cross.
Shrouds have no pockets states that most basic fact: that you can't take it with you - 'it' being worldly wealth. The earliest written reference to this saying is dated from 1854. Shrouds, of course, are the winding sheets used to cover the dead, and have their origin from a time when good clothing was expensive. You didn't bury your father in his best suit because his best suit was part of the family inheritance and was to be handed on to the living.
This saying can be approached from two angles - given the time of its origin it was likely intended to refer to the futility of laying up earthly treasures. However, it's just as likely to be used in a sense of enjoying what you have now, because one day you'll be dead.
All Lord Mulrine's party guests were afflicted with a vague sense that something was amiss, especially when they looked at George McDee, dead for over twenty years. He had tucked his hands into the pockets of his suit, and Felix said, not so softly as he should, "So much for 'shrouds have no pockets'." He received a look of razor-sharp contempt from Emma for this faux pas.
The beauty of both these sayings is that they can be looked at from two sides - as a warning of the inevitability of mortality, and as a reminder to enjoy life while you can.
Links
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100503805
http://www.answers.com/topic/shrouds-have-no-pockets