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Hello all,
I was wondering if someone knew a single word (preferably English, but I would be curious to hear about other languages if you know) that either meant or refers to the concept of "blessing and curse".
Thanks!
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newbie
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In Polish - 'urok' Depending on the outcome, it can be either blessing or curse. It is usually cast by witches 
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Pooh-Bah
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straight away I thought 'children' but I know thats not what you were after...
what about (and similar to elifit's post)
incantation...as in a verbal charm or spell.
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Carpal Tunnel
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----please, draw me a sheep----
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newbie
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I think hex refers to curse only
Last edited by elifit; 01/24/11 07:53 AM.
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you're probably correct. I got to thinking of words
that can mean either.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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Mixed blessing, but that's two words.
Peter
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have it in my mind that the Amish have what are called hex signs on their barns and they're there to ward off evil. That would be a kind of blessing.
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old hand
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Pennsylvania Dutch, yes; Amish, no.
Peter
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I did not know that about the PA Dutch.
A kind of hex-blessing, of sorts.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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I gather that there's no real consensus whether they're supposed to have any magical power or are just decoration; nor whether the "hex" is in the sense of a charm, or because many of the designs are hexagonal. Language is so much fun!
Peter
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old hand
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In hindu mythology*, to ask for or to grant a boon is basically to grant you your desire which can be a blessing or a curse. I do not know whether that word fits your requirements.
Eta: *in all mythology
Last edited by Avy; 01/25/11 11:14 AM.
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Pooh-Bah
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I have it in my mind that the Amish have what are called hex signs on their barns and they're there to ward off evil. That would be a kind of blessing. Is it a standard saying? Can you post what it is?
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have it in my mind that the Amish have what are called hex signs on their barns and they're there to ward off evil. That would be a kind of blessing. Is it a standard saying? Can you post what it is? I'm not sure what part of this you asking if it's a standard saying. And Tromboniator is right, it's from Pennsylvania Dutch. According to the AHD we got the word hex from Pennsylvania Dutch where it referred to sorcery, which could be used for good or evil, I suppose. We, in our callous disregard for meanings of words in languages we steal them from, narrowed it down to a the evil aspect.
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Omen to me has quite a threatening connotation. Fate or destiny
more neutral?
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old hand
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depends on your POV
Omen–noun
1.anything perceived or happening that is believed to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; portent.
2.a prognostic.
3.prophetic significance; presage: a bird of ill omen.
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Red sky at night, sailors delight: Good Omen.
An Omen can be good or bad.
Last edited by LukeJavan8; 01/26/11 12:12 AM.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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back to the OP; what's wanted is blessing AND curse, not blessing OR curse?
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depends on your POV
Omen–noun
1.anything perceived or happening that is believed to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; portent.
2.a prognostic.
3.prophetic significance; presage: a bird of ill omen.
Correct: POV. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning. Thus omen can be good and/or bad.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Pooh-Bah
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I'm not sure what part of this you asking if it's a standard saying......
the bit about "Amish have what are called hex signs on their barns"..do they have one sign or do they make up a different one each time the put up a barn ie more than one HEX Sign?
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old hand
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A boon can be good and bad, I think. King whatsisname touched stuff to become gold. That was good and bad, a blessing and a curse.
Eta:Midas
Last edited by Avy; 01/26/11 01:15 AM.
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old hand
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Candy– Again, NOT Amish, but there's no standard design, it's infinitely variable. That's the fun and the beauty of them.
Peter
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Interestingly, the Amish did not adopt the custom of decorating their barns, and do not use hex signs to this day. Neat article: Amish News
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A most interesting site to purchase Amish items.
Thanks Jackie.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Pooh-Bah
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Good read....thanks. I guess the idea of a hex on the Amish barn was propagated by TV... becoming an 'Urban Myth'
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Pooh-Bah
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Candy– Again, NOT Amish..... got it now Peter.
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And certain movies, I did not understand either.
Thanks Peter.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Maybe abracadabra ? "This, he explained, diminishes the hold of the spirit of the disease over the patient. Other Roman emperors, including Geta and Alexander Severus, were followers of the medical teachings of Serenus Sammonicus and are likely to have used the incantation as well. Some scholars have argued that the incantation has its source in the Jewish mystical teachings of the Kabbalah, and that the word itself is a corruption of two Hebrew words: ha-brachah, meaning "the blessing" (used in this sense as a euphemism for "the curse") and dabra, an Aramaic form of the Hebrew word dever, meaning "pestilence." They point to a similar kabbalistic cure for blindness, in which the name of Shabriri, the demon of blindness, is similarly diminished. Other scholars are skeptical of this origin and claim that the idea of diminishing the power of demons was common throughout the ancient world, and that Abracadabra was simply the name of one such demon."
Last edited by garygnu; 01/26/11 03:05 AM.
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Most interesting, as are the other sites.
Thanks and welcome garygnu
----please, draw me a sheep----
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You are welcome, Luke. Thanks, that's very g-nice of you.
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Ooh! Ooh! Gary should get a special designation: a gnubie. 
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Ooh! Ooh! Gary should get a special designation: a gnubie. Indeed, indeed. So gnoble of you, Jackie.
Last edited by LukeJavan8; 01/27/11 04:22 PM.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Interesting. Aren't a great many things blessing and curse as tied together? ( many of our inventions, old age, wealth, poverty, you name it...) And is it not a vain effort to try find one word for sort of this inevitable dualism?
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Good point, Bran, I like the thought.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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lol, Jackie. Is that like gneolagnium? My kids used to equate being called a gnubie to a curse.
Luke, gnoble like gneon?
Bran...gneigh, gnary.
Gnitid morning!
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----please, draw me a sheep----
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This glimmergneis is a real word.
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I had forgotten this word for a very long time. Found a large piece as a teenager, and have it somewhere. I'll have to look it up.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Why am I not surprised?
As long as you don't get gnats looking for them in the grass.
And your hair does not get gnarled rolling in it.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Surprised?! I never met a gnomical gnome I didn't like...especially the gnomonist and ones with gnarly hair, gnawing on gnocchi. I think gnats are gnotobiotic.
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You don't say!
I hear the gnots in the gnarly hair are gnatural.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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addict
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I haven't heard that word for AGES...it's a shame though as it is a great word...hopefully I shall hear it again soon...gnever say gnever!
----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
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Uh-Oh....you are into the gn.... stuff too!
Garygnu will love you for it.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Gnarly! I thought you wrote...into the gin. Guess I'm a little Tickle Pitckeb or Vice Admiral of the Narrow Seas...what have you.
Ages? Are we..like..talking, totally tubular? I can like so hear "Gag me with a spoon" already.
Luke, spotted any gnatcatchers lately?
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It's too early here, still frozen solid. Ground
covered in snow, but with March coming and
April the gnatcatchers will be here: swallows.
They eat lots of bugs.GNATURALLY I can't wait for Spring.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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Which brings us back to "blessing and curse." In this part of the world spring is known as "breakup." As the snow and ice disappear and buds start to burst, many of the unpaved (and some of the paved) roads become nearly or completely impassable as the surface heaves and buckles and the underlying ground thaws to a bottomless soup. Peter
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With the potholes we get I cannot but imagine the
situation with your streets and roads. What a
headache.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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Here in the big city (about 5500 people) things aren't so bad, but out in the suburbs…
Actually, road-building and repair techniques have improved vastly in the past twenty years or so, and much of the problem has been eased or eliminated, at least on government-maintained roads; but years ago, on the main road east of town, my wife and I were suddenly up to our door handles in mud, and it took a bulldozer to get us out. Interesting experience. Beautiful spring day, it was, though.
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Somebody needs to invent a road-building material
similar to spandex. Would be great here in the Plains.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Spandex roads! Now that would be interesting! 
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old hand
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That would take care of those potbellies in the spring.
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New kind of spring flower.  The grounds were crowded with bluebells and potbellies.
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Spandex roads! Now that would be interesting! I got a message from someone saying that they were actually tried, of a sorts - Spandex road surfacing--- there has been such a surface invented and tested in AZ. Not spandex, but they were mixing asphalt with ground-up tires, and while it was more expensive initially, it was maintenance-free and lasted a very long time. It was a John Stossel special back in the late 90's... and I think it was either AZ state hwy 10 or I-10. Missouri was thinking of doing it, but found it was not cost effective, probably because someone at the Missouri dept of Transportation had an uncle or cousin working for an asphalt company.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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That would take care of those potbellies in the spring. Potholes, too.
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And use up the piles of worn out tires ruining the landscape
and the entrance to many towns and villages. Give them
a useful purpose other than artificial reefs off the coasts.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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That would take care of those potbellies in the spring. Potholes, too. Exactly.
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Spandex can cover or reveal a multitude of sins.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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