random thoughts

I was once reprimanded for using the phrase "holy cow" to mean, "oooh wow." My instructor reasoned that in India, cows are holy and worshiped. A good Christian girl like me should not align myself with "pagan" religions of India. People could get the wrong idea.

All these years, it has made sense. Then I really started thinking about it. I don't look remotely Indian. It would take a lot more than two words to align myself with a foreign religion. I would have to be in India, or in the presence of someone who considers cows holy (cause lets face it, a lot of Americans know nothing about the religious practices of other cultures). Then they would have to get the wrong idea (and say what? "You worship cows too? How great to find a fellow believer in this pagan America!"). And if they did think that I was using the phrase seriously, wouldn't that be something akin to taking God's name in vain? If I saw a gorgeous Mustang on the road and said, "Holy cow! Look at that Mustang!" I'm not actually speaking to the cow... I'm taking its name in vain. How can one say that the phrase aligns me with a deity when that same phrase is being used by me irreverently?

Which takes me a step further because now I'm wondering if the God of the Christians and Jews is the only god that doesn't like his name being used in vain. Do other religions teach not to use the name of a deity lightly? Is Saturn shaking his fist in anger now that these silly Americans have made his name commonplace in the form of a car?