So once I sorted out the correspondence into a half-dozen folders, I googled for the author, and found the above link and that he and I share a similar memory problem.
On the other hand, I have the knack of remembering—or rather being unable to forget a considerable body of
assorted knowledge. I know, for example, that one of the plurals of cherub is cherubim. These are a lot of small angels a couple of rungs down the ladder from seraphim. This is a piece of information a lot of people don't have, and yet it is surprisingly hard to work into a conversation.
4 comments:
Mind like an attic, full of interesting, charming, and likely useless bits of knowledge. I have one of those.
Cherubs and cherubim are both correct, I believe. The latter is the Hebrew plural. They mostly show up in hymns, most commonly "Holy, Holy, Holy."
Fortunately I haven't had his experience of repeating a joke the host of the party had told 15 minutes before--I remembered where I'd heard it in time.
"Cherubim and seraphim/Thronged the air" -- In the Bleak Midwinter, one of my favorites.
"Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee, who wert and art and evermore shalt be." Holy Holy Holy used to be hymn number 1 in the book.
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