Words are the stuff life is made of. Education deals with the meaning of words; civilization depends on the fair and proper use of words. In kindergarten we learned that "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me." -- that isn't true. Later, we learned about "eating our words," "actions speak louder than words," and "mere words." At last, we learned about "a word fitly spoken." We talk about "men of few words" -- yeah, right. The trouble is they use them over and over and over again. Words are often downright confusing, For example: How is it possible to have a nose that runs and feet that smell? Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways? It seems ridiculous that a slim chance and a fat chance could be the same, while a wise guy is the opposite of a wise man. And why is it that quite a lot and quite a few are the same?
A good many of our witty one-liners first came from the Bible. That's right, "writing on the wall," "eye to eye," "manna from heaven," hard hearted," "a stranger in a strange land," "the salt of the earth," "stay on the straight and narrow," "seek and ye shall find," "turn the other cheek," "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing," "a house divided against itself cannot stand," "to cast the first stone," and "the truth shall make you free" are all commonly used lines that come from the Bible. The "Doubting Thomas," the "Good Samaritan," and the "Prodigal Son" all came from the Bible. The list goes on to include, "there's a fly in the ointment," "pride goes before a fall," "a double-edged sword," "but for the grace of God," and "there's nothing new under the sun."
There is good indication that Jesus was well-versed in much of the major literature of his time. In Matthew 7:15, he quoted from the famed Aesop, who told the story of a devious wolf who slipped into a sheepskin frock to trick the sheep. In the end, it was the wolf who was fooled, when the shepherd, who was in the mood for mutton, slew a sheep that turned out to be the sinewy old wolf. Jesus was referring to this story when he said, "Beware of a wolf in sheep's clothing." It's sort of like dressing up as a turkey when it's turkey season. Of maybe it's just "what goes around comes around."
Of course, it is not possible for people to put pen to page without getting a few "typos" -not even when they're typesetting for Bibles. In 1631, Robert Barker published a Bible with thus typo: "Thou shalt commit adultery.: That Bible was known as the "Adulterous Bible." In the Geneva Bible of 1560, Matthew's phrase, "Blessed are the peacemakers" came off the press as "Blessed are the placemakers." The 1810 "Wife-Hater Bible" resulted when a typesetter set Luke's words, "If any hate not his own life," as "If any hate not his own wife."
The press, of course, does get blamed for handing out a lot of "bad press." We all remember when Richard Nixon said in 1962, after losing the California governor's race to Pat Brown, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." As is often true, the promise of a final word is very seldom final. Anyway, I expect it was partly just "sour grapes." That reminds me of the 1612 version of the King James Bible. Psalm 119 should have read, "Princes have persecuted me without cause." However, it was published as "Printers have persecuted me without cause." -- almost seems like a Freudian slip by an oversensitive typesetter. The final "word to the wise" is, "We wish you the very best; have a great day - may God Bless!"