Something I read today....

[mizpeh]

Hermeneutics with Marv.

"BE HOME BY TEN," Dad said.


"Sure, Pops," you had replied, racing out the door to hop into Johnny's roadster.


But here you are now at the soda shop. It's 9 pm. And you are sitting across the table from Peggy Sue, who is here---alone. She is on the rebound, having just given Biff his walking papers. It is a consummation devoutly to be wished (not that kind of consummation--get your mind out of the gutter). Johnny is with Judy, his steady, of course, and he points out that the second feature at the drive-in starts in thirty minutes. Why not make it a double date?


The moment calls for...exegesis.


Fortunately you are quickly able to muster your interpretive options:


1. The first thing to look out for is false assumptions. Many people assume that the word "ten" refers to 10:00 pm. But the word is ambiguous, isn't it? It could mean 10 pm, but it could also mean 10 am. The context really does not make it clear which is meant. If Dad had wanted you to understand 10 pm, he could certainly have stated this clearly. As it is, one is as valid as the other. And say you come home at midnight... Why, that's ten hours early, according to the "10 am" view.


2. Next, it is important not to overlook culture. Remember, Dad is an old Navy man. The military has a language of it's own, and Dad tends to think in military terms. It is his culture. One thing that is often overlooked by those outside that culture is that 10 pm, in the original military, is 2200. 10 pm is never expressed using the number "ten." Culturally, "ten" refers to 1000, which is pronunced "ten hundred hours." And it refers, always, to 10 am. Cultural considerations actually rule out the "10 pm view."


3. Another thing to consider is genre. This expression: "Be home by ten" is what is known as a Dad-ism. One who is familiar with the genre knows the "rules of the game" for dealing with this genre. Dad, doing his Dad thing, pronounces the customary Dad blessing as you, the son, sally forth into Saturday night. It is really a way of saying "Have a good time." Those who understand the genre know that Dad is not thereby setting a curfew time, though people unfamiliar with the genre might jump to that conclusion....


continued...

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