Re: A suspected pun

On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:55:00 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
<mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Possible sensitized to puns following the tree-age/triage thread a light lit
up when I read a news item and related comment in The Times (of London).

First the news item:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4790856.ece

And lead us not into liquidation ? Church's prayer to beat crunch
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

The Church of England?s ?rapid response prayer unit? issued a new
spiritual invocation to shed light in the darkness that threatens to
overwhelm the nation during the ?disturbing days? of financial crisis.
....
The Church posted the ?prayer for the current financial situation? on the
official Church of England website last night.
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/prayers/#financial
....
The Established Church, which believes that it has a duty of care to all
people in its parishes and not just Anglicans, published rapid-response
prayers in the past for war, exams and, most recently, the Olympics. But
it relaunched the financial area of its website yesterday to focus
particularly on the credit crunch.
....

Then:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4790923.ece

Embracing information technology for e-liturgy
Ruth Gledhill: Commentary

The latest salvo from the Church of England's ?rapid-response prayer unit?
shows the Established Church of the nation engaging in spiritual warfare
at the front line.
....
New prayers or materials, such as for the latest authorised prayer book,
Common Worship, can take years to work out. They go to committees and
back, to deanery, diocesan and general synods, to meetings of the House of
Bishops and sometimes even to Parliament itself for debate. Prayers and
responses such as ?The Lord be with you ? and also with you? take months
of heated debate to finalise and, even then, many Anglicans still dispute
their literary merit.

But the age of the internet gives the Church another, more immediate
outlet for its intercessory offerings. It is fast, accessible and, most
--> important, not just on Sundays. The liturgical canons have been fired up
in this way in cases of need such as for exams, for work and rush-hour
stresses and most recently for the Olympics.

The Rev Peter Moger, 44, who wrote the new credit-crunch prayer, is the
Church of England?s national worship development officer.

As former Precentor of Ely, his background in cathedral music gives him an
instinctive feel for the rise and fall of liturgical rhythm that makes him
a natural for the rapid-response prayer unit.

His mission is to concentrate on drawing up quick-fire intercessory
prayers that can speak to distressed Christians in times of need.

* Have your say

"rapid-response prayer unit"? Best laugh I've had for ages!

Alan Henness, Glasgow,

What I take to be a pun is "canons" in "The liturgical canons have been fired
up...".

The canons are clergy:
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/canon_2?view=uk

canon2

noun 1 a member of a cathedral chapter.

But "fired up" suggests "cannons".

There might also be a nod in the direction of:
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/canon_1?view=uk

canon1

noun
1 a general rule or principle by which something is judged.
2 a Church decree or law.


Other possibilities for "canon" (AHD):
4. The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture.
6. Canon. The part of the Mass beginning after the Preface and Sanctus
and ending just before the Lord's Prayer.
8. Music. A composition or passage in which the same melody is
repeated by one or more voices, overlapping in time in the same or a
related key.

Since it's "liturgical canons", the "clergy" meaning doesn't fit
exactly, and none of the other meanings is exactly on, so I think the
writer was stretching to make the pun. And, as in the other case, it's
impossible to believe that the writer was unaware of the connection.
They still decided to write it that way, and that makes it an
intentional pun.

--
John
.

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