"And I heard the L-rd G-d say to me -- my name is I am".

Odessa Dawn · May 16, 2013

"I was regretting the past and I was fearing the future. And I heard the L-rd G-d say to me -- my name is I am. If you live in the past, it will be very hard for I am not there. My name is not I was. And if you live in the future, it will be very hard for my name is not I will be. But if you live in the present, it is not hard for my name is I am".

I failed to pick up the appropriate punctuation mark. Are the two hyphens acceptable after the word me, please?

charliedeut · May 16, 2013

Odessa Dawn said:
"I was regretting the past and I was fearing the future. And I heard the L-rd G-d say to me -- my name is I am. If you live in the past, it will be very hard for I am not there. My name is not I was. And if you live in the future, it will be very hard for my name is not I will be. But if you live in the present, it is not hard for my name is I am".

I failed to pick up the appropriate punctuation mark. Are the two hyphens acceptable after the word me, please?

Personally, I would use inverted commas: And I heard the L-rd G-d say to me, "my name is I am."

Others (esp. natives) might have different/more correct views.

charliedeut

Barb_D · May 16, 2013

Yes, as a direct quote, it should indeed be enclosed in quotation marks.
However, the two hyphens are often used in typing when the em-dash is not available. I'm often lazy and use one.

Route21 · May 16, 2013

Barb_D said:
However, the two hyphens are often used in typing when the em-dash is not available. I'm often lazy and use one.

Just as an aside, when would you use an m-dash rather than an n-dash?
I must admit, I've never deliberately used an m-dash.

Regards
R21

Odessa Dawn · May 16, 2013

Route21 said:
Just as an aside, when would you use an m-dash rather than an n-dash?
I must admit, I've never deliberately used an m-dash.

Regards
R21

Honestly, I have been reading all day long, but I sure you that the best lesson I leaned today is Route21's using of indefinite article, an. Thank you, Route21.
M, m noun (LETTER) - /em/
N, n noun (LETTER) - /en/

BobK · May 16, 2013

I've never knowingly used an m-dash either, except when I was using some old typesetting software called VAX DOCUMENT (I say 'old', but it was the latest thing at the time). A pair of hyphens in the source file produced the output 'blahblahblah--blahblah--blahblahblah', and the manual called this 'an n-dash'. But if you wanted your dashes to mark a parenthesis (with space each side of the dash: 'blahblahblah -- blahblah -- blahblahblah') you had to use three hyphens; the output was described in the manual as 'an m-dash'. But the dash was the same length in either case! To avoid the rather ugly spaceless version I always used '---'.

b

SoothingDave · May 16, 2013

I will use "--" to indicate that I intend a dash instead of a hyphen. If it was being typeset or prepared for publication, I would expect an em dash there.

Barb_D · May 16, 2013

En-dashes are used to connect times, dates, etc. to show continuity. 7–9 pm. May–October 2013.
Em-dashes are what most people think of simply as dashes (and have a bunch of uses).

People in my profession care about this. Most mortals do not.

— em dash
– en dash
- hyphen

Rover_KE · May 16, 2013

I was regretting the past and I was fearing the future. And I heard the L-rd G-d say to me -- my name is I am.

What is the source of your quotation, Odessa Dawn?

Many years have passed since anybody has found it necessary to avoid writing 'Lord God' in full.

Rover

Odessa Dawn · May 16, 2013

Rover_KE said:
What is the source of your quotation, Odessa Dawn?
Rover

Here is the source of my quotation:

The whole quotation starts at the thirty minute time (30:40). And the underlined part is at (30:50).

One man put it this way, I was regretting the past and I was fearing the future. And I heard the L-rd G-d say to me, 'My name is I am'. If you live in the past, it will be very hard for I am not there. My name is not I was. And if you live in the future, it will be very hard for my name is not I will be. But if you live in the present, it is not hard for my name is I am. G-d is the G-d of your today. G-d will help you deal with the problems of today. He will be for you tomorrow but tomorrow will be your today when you get there.

Rover_KE said:
Many years have passed since anybody has found it necessary to avoid writing 'Lord God' in full.
Rover

Thank you so very much for your valid point. Yes, your words are worthy of eternal praise.

5jj · May 16, 2013

Odessa Dawn said:
Here is the source of my quotation:

The whole quotation starts at the thirty minute time (30:40). And the underlined part is at (30:50).

Yes, but that was the spoken version. It seems to be you who wrote 'L-rd G-d'.

Odessa Dawn · May 16, 2013

5jj said:
It seems to be you who wrote 'L-rd G-d'.

Yes. It is "A way of avoiding writing a name of G-d, to avoid the risk of the sin of erasing or defacing the Name". But Rover made it clear and I will stick to his version.

BobK · May 17, 2013

I thought your usage was rather charming. ;-)

b

Barb_D · May 17, 2013

There are still some Jews who avoid writing "God" - they write G_d. Not many in my direct experience, but some. I've never seen a Christian do it.

Rover_KE · May 17, 2013

Barb_D said:
There are still some Jews who avoid writing "God" - they write G_d. Not many in my direct experience, but some. I've never seen a Christian do it.

I don't suppose Odessa Dawn is either a Jew or a Christian.

Barb_D · May 17, 2013

I agree. I was just commenting that the practice is not completely outdated. (At least, not yet.)

"And I heard the L-rd G-d say to me -- my name is I am".

Odessa Dawn

Key Member

charliedeut

VIP Member

Barb_D

Moderator

Route21

Senior Member

Odessa Dawn

Key Member

BobK

Moderator

SoothingDave

VIP Member

Barb_D

Moderator

Rover_KE

Moderator

Odessa Dawn

Key Member

5jj

Moderator

Odessa Dawn

Key Member

BobK

Moderator

Barb_D

Moderator

Rover_KE

Moderator

Barb_D

Moderator

Similar threads