G-d

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Vicomte
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G-d

Post by Vicomte »

Please could some kind soul tell me why so many people on here write God in such a manner?
I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.
No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
Neil from The Young Ones
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lizzytysh
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Re: G-d

Post by lizzytysh »

Hi Vicomte ~

I will give my own cobbled explanation and let someone who is a Jew clarify it correctly for you, since I'll also include something about myself.
Meanwhile, this will get you through until someone else happens by.

Apparently, it's an old [not sure how old] Jewish tradition to write "God" with the hyphen taking the place of the "o," as the hyphen represents all of the unknown and unknowable about G-d.

I loved this when I first encountered it, but not being a Jew, I felt it inappropriate to write it using a hyphen.
Since the wavy line "~' for me serves the same purpose, and atop that, for me, is wavy such as a sound wave might be and resembles something that to me is somehow suggestive of 'the eternal' [not a straight line, but a wavy line into the expanses of the unknown] that's how I chose to write it just for myself. I've never seen anyone else do it that way because it seems the hyphen is reserved for the Jew, and the rest who refer to God spell it in the typical fashion using an "o."

That's the idea, anyway... and, as I said, someone else will explain it more succinctly, I'm sure.


~ Lizzie
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~ Oscar Wilde
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leonardthecat
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Re: G-d

Post by leonardthecat »

G-d knows
seadove
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Re: G-d

Post by seadove »

One of the commandments is "Thou shalt not take the lord's name in vain."

before the computer when we used to "talk" to each other we don't say Elohim or Gawd but rather Elokim or Ha shem.

In the computer age it took this pattern of ommiting a letter so as not to take the Lord's name in vain.

Not every jew is orthodox but we say G-d so as to respect everyone's feelings.
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lizzytysh
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Re: G-d

Post by lizzytysh »

Thanks, seadove. I wasn't even aware of that origin perspective with it.
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
Vicomte
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Re: G-d

Post by Vicomte »

Thank you to those who have replied. I see, well kind of, as religion and I don't always see eye to eye, rather like LC himself.

I have read a little more from a link I was offered and as seadove implies, this is in respect of those who are Jewish? So really this does not apply to those of us who are not of that religion, or indeed an atheist. Is it therefore a little bizarre that on this forum people who are not Jewish should write God with a hyphen? Or am I missing something?
I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.
No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
Neil from The Young Ones
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lightasabreeze
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Re: G-d

Post by lightasabreeze »

G-d I love your sense of humour leonardthecat.
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Vicomte
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Re: G-d

Post by Vicomte »

Now leonardthecat and lightasabreeze don't sound very Jewish names to me but they have also spelt God with a hyphen, why is that?
I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.
No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
Neil from The Young Ones
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leonardthecat
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Re: G-d

Post by leonardthecat »

Vicomte wrote:Now leonardthecat and lightasabreeze don't sound very Jewish names to me but they have also spelt God with a hyphen, why is that?
sorry to disappoint, but leonardthecat is the short version - it's actually leonard cohen macleod the cat. Probably Jewish.
Vicomte
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Re: G-d

Post by Vicomte »

Disappoint me, why do you think that? The full name doesn't point to being Jewish. In the the UK, George Cohen back in 1966 won the Soccer World Cup with England and later his Son Ben won the Rugby World cup in 2003, also for England. They were not Jewish either. So "probably" isn't really a player as far as being Jewish because your name is Cohen, sorry to disappoint.
I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.
No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
Neil from The Young Ones
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leonardthecat
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Re: G-d

Post by leonardthecat »

I've just asked, and leonardthecat says he isn't Jewish - but doesn't care if God is spelt as God, or G-d. And neither do I.
Vicomte
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Re: G-d

Post by Vicomte »

OK, so you speak to yourself.

Has anyone else got an answer as to why non Jewish on here should reply with G-d and not God?
I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.
No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
Neil from The Young Ones
lea schnabel00
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Re: G-d

Post by lea schnabel00 »

Vicomte wrote:Disappoint me, why do you think that? The full name doesn't point to being Jewish. In the the UK, George Cohen back in 1966 won the Soccer World Cup with England and later his Son Ben won the Rugby World cup in 2003, also for England. They were not Jewish either. So "probably" isn't really a player as far as being Jewish because your name is Cohen, sorry to disappoint.
cohen is a jewish name. if the father is a jew and the mother is not.there the name of the son stay cohen ,but he is not a jew.
Cate
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Re: G-d

Post by Cate »

Vicomte wrote:OK, so you speak to yourself.

Has anyone else got an answer as to why non Jewish on here should reply with G-d and not God?
Respect for other peoples comfort and beliefs.
Vicomte
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Re: G-d

Post by Vicomte »

Cate wrote:
Vicomte wrote:OK, so you speak to yourself.

Has anyone else got an answer as to why non Jewish on here should reply with G-d and not God?
Respect for other peoples comfort and beliefs.
And what about respect for those that are not au fait with the Jewish "faith" do they not have a say? Must we all bow to their beliefs when we do not believe? I am not being disrespectful I am saying that because some from their Jewish beliefs (and this I am informed has been brought in only since the internet came in to being) wish to spell it with a hyphen but surely it is all rather bonkers for non Jewish believers to write it in this manner on this forum. It is not disrespectful to not put a hyphen in, in fact I think it is rather patronising.
I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.
No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
Neil from The Young Ones
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