Thursday, January 17, 2008

Clean your brain, bookseller

Spake Tetrapilotomos:
"Can't understand this. In my bookshelf the Satanic Verses are peacefully embraced by Bible and Koran, and there is no trouble at all. A very touching picture."

Asked I:
And what is it you can't understand?

Spake Tetrapilotomos:
Anyone who would not know that selling books implicates touching books.

Said I:
Sounds paradoxical, indeed.

Spake Tetrapilotomos:
Although it's logic.

Said I:
And the moral of the story?

Spake Tetrapilotomos:
Daily washing doesn't guarantee clean brains.

6 comments:

  1. i think the customer got it all wrong. the assistant didnt want to touch it because she is "unclean", not the book. you see, to touch Koran you have to be "clean". there are several reason why you are not clean. let me tell about the reasons for another occasion.

    but you see, you cant touch a Holy Book when you are unclean. actually, the holy book is the Koran and other books which you know that contains verses from Koran. and Bible does not count. but i think she did not touch the book because she considered Bible as a holy book, too, and showed her respect, not disrespect.

    ReplyDelete
  2. First of all, welcome, SH. :)

    Now, this is a very interesting interpretation.

    Given this was the reason, and given I had been a Muslim working in this very bookshop: By noticing the lady getting obviously irritated I'd have explained to her in a friendly manner, why I would refuse touching her (the ladies) holy book. The British lady then might have been shaking her head in view of such a ... hm ... let's say strange behaviour, but she might have accepted, paid the book, taken her bible and left the shop, still wondering about all those oddities one can meet on this planet.
    And everything would have been fine, except for the DT-writer who would have had to find another strange story, and for this blogger who probably would not have known what to make fun from, today.
    Would you agree? :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Super Hero you are correct. But the Bible is a Holy Book also, because all muslims believe in Jesus Christ as a prophet and he is quoted in the Koran on many occassions. So if the lady was religious, she was correct to handle the Bible in the same manner.

    But it would be very easy for an observer to make a wrong interpretation.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. thanks for the welcome sean. you are right, if it were you you would explain yourself to avoid misunderstanding. and i would do the same thing. but sometimes, or rather most times, people dont realize that their attitude needs an explanation, and then they are totaly misunderstood.

    now of course, neither of us were there and we dont know the situation, and we interpret it with very little information on the issue. so whatever we say, it will be a mere speculation. but you see, using the spesific word "unclean" makes me lean to my point of view.

    and Ardent, im really not sure if Bible is considered to be a holy book, at least not the current one, because you know, Moslems consider it to be an "altered" copy of the original Bible. but dont count on me, because i touch all the books without paying attention to this "cleanness" issue.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Ardent, dear SH,

    to see your little 'dialogue' was a pleasure for my eyes. :)

    Surely, we could easily spend hours and hours talking about this 'extraordinary event'; at least I could.

    In order not to raise the suspicion I could suffer from logorrhoea, I shall try to cut it short:

    This but little discussion could stay as an example for that (almost) everything would be much easier if people tried speaking - and listening - to one another in a friendly manner.
    Would you agree? :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah, well, SH. You'd be not suprised to learn that I did eminently enjoy to read the last 12 words of your comment(s), would you? :)

    ReplyDelete