GoldbergBlog

No G-d but G-d

So I was subbing today and a couple students were going over a draft of a paper. The following conversation follows:

Student 1: What’s “G dash D” ?
Student 2: Oh, that’s how I spell God.
Me: (brain crumples)

I tried to explain that writing God like that is incorrect. The reason people do it (and in my experience, it only seems to be Jewish people) is that if they have to erase the name or throw it away, they’re not throwing away the name of God.

Except God’s name isn’t God. No one knows what God’s name is. It can be Allah, Yahweh, Adonai, and a host of other names. None of them is God’s true name so you’re only showing piety to a fake name.

When I tried to explain this, these students responded that it’s just a matter of personal preference. But you can’t make up words out of personal preference. You’re not demonstrating piety. You’re demonstrating ignorance. Then again, I suppose if you believe that erasing or throwing away God’s name is something you should avoid lest you invoke the wrath of the Almighty (also not his name), then you’re already past the point of logic. I understand it’s important to be respectful to God. At the same time, there’s a difference between respect and fear of a giant invisible parent figure who’s going to send you to eternal timeout if you fuck up his name.

But words are not a matter of opinion. They’re not a matter of personal preference. If that were the case, why not always write in l33t? Why not write “women” as “womyn” so that the word “men” is not present? The ideas will still get across so who cares if you shit all over the English language in the process?

I’m not trying to hold up spelling as more important than reverence of God, but using G-d isn’t reverence. It’s superstition.

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