Friday, August 04, 2006
Spirit
Here's a little musing on a interesting (at least to me) crossing of paths in the universe. The Hebrew-Aramaic word for spirit is ruach. Ruach is pronounced "roo-ah". The quintessntial spirited Marine non-word is oo-rah ( not to be confused with the Army's weird wannabe moto-word hoo-ah). Roo-ah is a very handy little word for those inclined to meditate. Oo-rah, on the other hand, doesn't work too well...it's not exactly a sound meant to trigger Theta waves in the old brain housing.
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6 comments:
That is what more people in this world need . . . a little more oo-rah in their roo-ah!
I'll second that.
Strong work, Marine. You're art is fantastic.
So, OO-RAH! is the anti roo-ah ?
Or is it more like OO-RAH! is an active form of meditation whereas roo-ah is a passive?
Ruah also means breath in Hebrew. Like when God breathed spirit into man.
Just a tiny problem with pronounciation, though. . . The Hebrew word "rhymes" with "Bach" or "Loch". Not a "ah" soft sound, not "ch" like "church" but more like a dragged out, hacking spit from the back of the throat as if you want to clear a bad post-nasal drip. Of course one could argue that this sound suits the Marines anyway :-)
I would like to interject a third cultural icon into the mix and suggest that The Monster in Young Frankenstein is singing a mixture of these two meditative and arousing phrases during his song and dance routine of "Puttin' on the Ritz."
Specifically, in the part referring to Gary Cooper, The Monster croons out a mixture of "roo-ah" and "oo-rah" when he sings those immortal words, "ooorraaoorraaooorraaaarrraooo!"
You're welcome.
;-)
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