Buzzwords: wayspeak

[Lori]

Seth, now that you mention it, I DO remember! (witnessing 2 by two)

It even got to the point if anyone in my area had the chance to witness on their own,

God wouldn't honor it.........Geez, what about Phillip? He witnessed on his own!

"schedules" This thing really got on my nerves! You were supposed to keep an "up to minute"

schedule, and if anything did come up not on your schedule, well you didn't do it!

I might have done that for a week, but that was it! The corps had it even worse. Didn't they have to turn theirs in? At least, that's what I seem to remember.

S.V. this is close to yours. "spiritually clean" The leadership used this alot. Well, you know what? I think it was the other way around! If anyone was unclean, it was them! (and their condescending attitudes)

I wish I knew had to use that "puke" icon!

[WhiteDove]

Sorry I can't relate to this , while there was certainly a number of words /phrazes unique to the Way I don't find that odd I've seen the same in other social groups also. I can say I never felt held hostage or stopped in my tracks by a word.

Now ths would have stopped me in my tracks......

[rascal]

YES safari vista... the *any two believers* garbage ... really ended up hurting a lot of people.

Uphold the satandard of the word meant so many times to ignore abuse...illegal activities etc *lest the ministry be blamed*

Making a *commitment* is my biggie....you only discover afterwards that it is an unbreakable vow to God to be carried out no matter how dangerous or umpleasant the hidden consequences become.

[potato]

"schedules" This thing really got on my nerves! You were supposed to keep an "up to minute"

schedule, and if anything did come up not on your schedule, well you didn't do it!

I have a feeling that the area I lived was as bad as any root location or corps-heavy area. I was required to submit a weekly schedule to my FC (just me, not anyone else, because of how "dangerous" I was). I was even told that I started preparing dinner too early and that I needed to adjust my schedule because I was wasting time. never mind that I like gourmet food cooked from fresh ingredients and sometimes cooked some things that had to be in the oven for an hour!

Here's another:

Reporting Back

If we ever did anything out of sight of our FC, we were to report back. If we went out of town for even a day, we had to report in when we got back. if we were doing anything significant that they weren't involved in, we had to report back and let them know we were "safe" (i.e. hadn't been tricked out of the Word by the adversary). any task they gave us required reporting back, especially any of those lovely things they presented as a "decision".

now that I think about it, there was a pretty good chunk of time when everyone was required to submit written weekly reports. one report per married couple.

[templelady]

now that I've taken a deep breath----

so the result of the "renew your mind" posted earlier by me is that every time someone suggests "you need to adjust your attitude" "you need to reexamine your thinking" --usually a good idea btw in the given situation---

My brain immediately flashes back to St-v- -rmstr-ng and G-ry K-ng telling a shaking and tearful me to Renew my mind.

I used to be really bad-so bad I would often burst into tears--the flashbacks still come, no tears, but I have to make a conscious decision to put that flashback aside and concentrate instead on the present

[Belle]

"Where'd you miss it?" - when something happens to a person that's 'not best' - e.g. they got sick, broken an arm, had a car crash.... anything.... first question isn't, "Are you okay?" or "What can I do to help?" it's "Where'd you miss it?"

If something came up in our marriage, my ex would sit down and tell me we needed to look back through to see where we missed it.... Well, we "missed it" by giving 20% of our effen income to them instead of paying our bills. We missed it because, well, we're around germs all day, every day and it's only a matter of time before someone catches a cold or has allergy problems...

BUT, if leadership had something bad happen, they were "standing in the gap" for us egg-sucking believers who don't deserve to breathe the same air as our illustrious leadership.

Even today if I get sick or something happens that could be considered something "bad", I stop and think about whether I did anything wrong to deserve that. Couldn't just be that sh1t happens, could it? Not according to TWIt brains.

[SafariVista]

REPORTING BACK!

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....grrrrrrr

Brings words to mind like, control, fear, spiritual abandonment, stripping confidence, immaturity…

[WordWolf]

Welcome now i see.................you are in good company here.

Actually there were name massacres for the rest...................

Easter was coined "Resurrection Sunday"

Halloween was "Bless and Treat",

Valentines Day was ''Happy Hearts Day"............

the rest wasn't that important enough to celebrate and change the name I guess.

These are still in my brain that I battle during all of them. I'll stick to the Americanized versions now.

I am surprised you didn't get this in your area. But for root locals and such, it was the norm.

These renames WERE widespread. We definitely heard them in NYC.

(Actually, I didn't hear "Bless and Treat", but I figure it was only a matter of time.)

It was also said that changing Valentine's Day was an improvement,

because the original name wasn't actually after a Catholic saint

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine

but instead after a MASSACRE.

http://www.prairieghosts.com/valentine.html

That came from a corps person's mouth who is now on twi's national board.

Your bod at work!

It's possible he said it tongue-in-cheek, but he deadpanned it and certainly never gave

any impression he was joking.

It also fits in perfectly with lcm's claims that holidays were named after murders.

After all, he claimed "Christ-mass" wasn't named after a mass attended on that day,

but instead for the "massacre" of the children (those sometimes termed the

"holy innocents" in Herod's attempt to have the King of the Jews killed.)

He also made other comments about it like calling it

" 'Happy Kill-Christ Day', celebrating the death of Christ."

I was no Rhodes scholar, but I knew it was bs the first time I'd heard of it, because

there's other holidays named in the same convention,

like Michaelmas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas

and Candlemas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlemas

which were Days of Obligation on the liturgical calendar.

lcm was the head of twi at the time.

I don't expect he should necessarily have been able to recite the derivations of

all the holidays on the liturgical calendar

(although he should have had a nodding familiarity with Christian topics in general

if he was to be running such an organization),

but-if he was going to open his fool mouth and announce what the correct

history and derivation was-

it should have been expected that he open a decent set of encyclopedias,

and at least check he wasn't making an obvious mistake.

But, hey, it's not like there was any sort of "quality control" at the top of twi.

vpw never wanted ANY mechanisms that could have removed power from his hands.

[now I see]

I remember the anti Christmas being strongly enforced, I never heard of Bless and Treat, I do remember Happy Hearts and Resurrection Sunday, but those who still said Easter or Valentines really were ignored or were not corrected with nearly the same vehemence that Christmas users were!

[VeganXTC]

I remember a very sweet boy with a pure heart teaching our twig about Resurrection Sunday. Except he said Erection Sunday instead, many times, through the whole teaching. While there were some smiles, no one said anything. If he was taken aside afterwards, I don't know. But I was with people who cared about the heart. I can't imagine that happening today.

[Belle]

I remember listening to craiggers rant on and on about the names of the days of the week and the months of the year all being named after gods and devil spirits around the time they started enforcing all these renamed holidays. I asked my ex if we were going to have to change what we called those too.

Can you imagine being in the workplace, leaving on a Friday (Mosesday) and saying to your co-workers, "See you on Jobday (Monday)!" I'm sure if craig thought he could get away with it he would have tried it.

[shortfuse]

Can you imagine being in the workplace, leaving on a Friday (Mosesday) and saying to your co-workers, "See you on Jobday (Monday)!" I'm sure if craig thought he could get away with it he would have tried it.

I think he would have preferred to make everyday Wednesday.

[Twinky]

Wow, first time I have read this thread, makes the hair on the back of my head stand up. So glad I haven't heard some of these endearing expressions (joke) for a long time.

Waysider:

But more to the point of the thread. I think perhaps what we are talking about here are words and phrases that automatically "push our buttons" and elicit a predictable response.

For me this was evidenced on two different levels,especially in the workplace.

1.) I tried to follow authority somehow thinking they had the big picture in mind rather than their own private agenda. This is definitely not good advise in the work-a-day world but at the same time it does not mean that everyone fits this profile.

2.) I become(notice present tense) agitated by demands that have no purpose and sometimes even a negative purpose that are presented solely to demonstate a show of power.

I know this may seem a bit abstract but it is all very real when the correct button is pushed and stong emotions rear their heads.

You must work the same place as me!!! Yes, unfortunately where I work at present is a sort of mini-TWI in its attitude to its employees. And I very stupidly put up with it. I see it all now that I've got free from it. (I resigned last week, oh what a very lovely feeling. But I have retracted, but for personal reasons. But they are definitely treating me better.)

Loaded word for me is : Meek.

Specifically, as in "You are not meek to the Word" (= you are not doing what TWI demands of you). Usually meant that you were actually doing something with real scriptural support.

Fortunately (am I allowed to say that?) meek is not a word in common parlance.

Has anybody included on this thread expressions like:

"the Word"

"Doing the Word"

which are a bit more than just Wayspeak

Edited October 11, 2006 by Twinky

[SafariVista]

Bliss said:

Halloween was "Bless and Treat"

If my memory is serving me right, Halloween was called 'Happy Harvest Day', and when the children went out for goodies, they were to say, 'BLESS AND TREAT' :( ... we did it for a short time, but the kids got tired of being so different... Mom, do we have to say that?

All because we weren't going to 'trick' anyone if they didn't give us a treat~

There are more 'details' and instructions that go along with this whole theme... but it's just ridiculous, and I'd rather spend time w/ my children right now

[Belle]

SV, I never heard "Happy Harvest Day", but maybe it was our area since there were lots of kids around to "Bless and Treat"

And don't bring "deviled eggs" to a "pot luck" - they are "blessed eggs" to a "pot bless"

Gag me with a spoon!

[lindyhopper]

No, Belle, spoons used for serving....

serving up some whoop-@$$.

[shortfuse]

I think he would have preferred to make everyday Wednesday.

Lindy, where were you on the assist?

Why Wednesday?

[T-Bone]

"The integrity of the Word is at stake."

That was always the best diversionary tactic TWI could activate. It was always leadership's trump card - designed to override anyone's suspicions of their misconduct. The year before I went in the corps - I assisted the branch coordinator. He was kinda dishonest in his business practices - and just about everyone in the branch knew it that worked for him. I was one of the last ones to figure that out - being apprentice corps and wanting to be "spiritual" and all. I remember his wife praising me for being one of the few believers in the area that still held onto the integrity of the Word - not joining in all the murmuring going on about her husband. [oh wow!!!! that's another loaded word to manipulate yah! We had umpteen teachings that year on how sinful it was to murmur].

This "integrity of the Word is at stake" bs came into play big time during the crisis management phase after POP. Man, I could show you frustrating dialogs in my letters to corps buddies - where as I kept citing specific issues/doctrines/practices that needed to be addressed - my words would bounce off that impenetrable phrase they'd fire back at me "you're being deceived - the integrity of the Word is at stake!"

Edited October 11, 2006 by T-Bone

[lindyhopper]

Well, SF, I thought it was obvious, but I assume because it is humpday.

Which as we all know comes from the Greek god Humponius.

Who (a little known fact) is also the inspiration for the "Jam Pony Express."

Which (also a little known fact) is a trigger phrase for me to break out dancing retardedly.

see how I bring it back around, full circle.

Edited October 11, 2006 by lindyhopper

[shortfuse]

That verse in Timothy about "seducing spirits" leading people away. The implication was if you disagreed with the way or its leadership, you were being seduced and buying into doctrines of devils. That used to scare the ....e out of me, and straighten me right up.

Well, SF, I thought it was obvious, but I assume because it is humpday.

Which as we all know comes from the Greek god Humponius.

Who (a little known fact) is also the inspiration for the "Jam Pony Express."

Which (also a little known fact) is a trigger phrase for me to break out dancing retardedly.

see how I bring it back around, full circle.

Thanks for the nod to my corny joke.

Also, thanks for the tip on your retard dance trigger. Duely noted.

Edited October 11, 2006 by shortfuse

[WordWolf]

SV, I never heard "Happy Harvest Day", but maybe it was our area since there were lots of kids around to "Bless and Treat"

It might have been your area.

They were actually using that term in the 80s, but I didn't connect it with Halloween.

I think there was a decision among the local leaders not to encourage the term because

it was f'ing lame. Then again, in NYC, we had entire territories where 95% or more

left when lcm drew his line in the sand, so it's not expected that EVERYTHING he said

was blindly followed in the years and months leading up to that.

I think Thanksgiving and New Year's were the only holidays they didn't touch.

April Fool's Day, of course, was already named FOR lcm....

[now I see]

April Fool's Day, of course, was already named FOR lcm....

HA HA! I actually did Laugh Out Loud!!!!!!

[wheatland]

Okay, how about the Advances we had. We never had Retreats.

We were never to have a time of reverie, or reflection when we were in the Word. Everything about our lives, our ministries, were to advance... maybe if we retreated, re-treated, re=again, and treated, ourselves, we would have been able to have moved forward with God in a more spiritually saavy way. But, we never really thought about treating ourselves in a quiet spiritual way; we were too busy advancing.

[waysider]

Wheatland------------Welcome.

Stick around and sample the "treats".

[wheatland]

Thanks, Waysider. I have been sampling these treats for a couple of months, and they are healing, though highly addictive. :)