Bah

Bah, came off my bike this morning. It was two degrees, and the roads on my way in were either dry or damp, but one short stretch, evidently with a different kind of tarmac, was covered with black ice.^* I managed the turn onto it fine, but then heard a crash and looked over my shoulder to see the cyclist behind me on the ground, so I hit the brakes to stop and see if he was okay, and came off myself. How annoying.

I'm a bit bruised and battered, but otherwise fine (and so is my bike, despite landing derailleur-side down). I shall cheer myself up with some tea, which I cycle past six times a week, but which for some reason it has taken me twelve years to share with anyone else:

Make tea not war

* ETA: I can't believe that I wrote "dry ice" there when I wrote this entry, or that it was there for twelve hours, during which one person posted a follow-up, without anyone noticing!

In reaction to the news

Dear rioting loyalists of Belfast,

You're so sure you want to be seen to be part of the UK, but has it occurred to you that if you behave that way, the rest of the UK doesn't want you to be part of us?

Yours faithfully,
lethargic_man

Samaritan Torah, פַּרְשַׁת וַיֵשֶׁב

Gen. 38 tells the story of Tamar. Verse 3 tells us:

[Shua`] conceived, and bare a son; and he [Judah] called his name Er.

וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן וַיִּקְרָא אֶת־שְׁמוֹ עֵר׃

The Samaritan text, however, gives the naming right to Shua`:

[Shua`] conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name Er.

וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן וַתִּקְרָא אֶת־שְׁמוֹ עֵר׃

Similarly, at the end of the chapter, it's Tamar who names her son Pereṣ, not Judah. (In general, children in the Bible are more often named by their mother than their father.)

In Gen 39, Potiphar's wife tries to seduce Joseph. Verse 8 reads:

He refused, and said to his master's wife, "Behold, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand."

וַיְמָאֵן וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־אֵשֶׁת אֲדֹנָיו הֵן אֲדֹנִי לֹא־יָדַע אִתִּי מַה־בַּבָּיִת וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־יֶשׁ־לוֹ נָתַן בְּיָדִי׃

The Samaritan text reads מאומה in place of מה. I thought this was something about a blemish, but after looking the word up, it turns out it just means "anything", and is short for מָה וּמָה. So I've learned something. (And then forgotten it again, and relearned it when I came to post this pre-written piece to my blog several weeks later. Let's see if I remember it this time.)

Genesis 39:12	בראשית לט יב
She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me," and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and went out.	וַתִּתְפְּשֵׂהוּ בְּבִגְדוֹ לֵאמֹר שִׁכְבָה עִמִּי וַיַּעֲזֹב בִּגְדוֹ בְּיָדָהּ וַיָּנָס וַיֵּצֵא הַחוּצָה׃ וַיְהִי כִּרְאוֹתָהּ כִּי־עָזַב בִּגְדוֹ בְּיָדָהּ וַיָּנָס הַחוּצָה׃

This is a little bit more risqué in the Samaritan text (et passim. in the following verse), by virtue of pluralising the noun:

Genesis 39:12	בראשית לט יב
She caught him by his clothes, saying, "Lie with me," and he left his clothes in her hand, and fled, and went out.	וַתִּתְפְּשֵׂהוּ בְּבִגְדָיו לֵאמֹר שִׁכְבָה עִמִּי וַיַּעֲזֹב בִּגְדוֹ בְּיָדָהּ וַיָּנָס וַיֵּצֵא הַחוּצָה׃ וַיְהִי כִּרְאוֹתָהּ כִּי־עָזַב בִּגְדָיו בְּיָדָהּ וַיָּנָס הַחוּצָה׃

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