This word has been bandied about during the Olympics quite a bit. The Chinese men's diving team is a juggernaut. ( Actually no as it turns out. Who would have thought the American would come out on top?) I do agree that the American men's basketball team might qualify as a juggernaut. So it is clear from that context that a juggernaut is an awesome force that is difficult to overcome but looking at the word, it is not obvious where it came from. Had to look this up.
Turns out that the word is derived from Sanskrit describing a festival of one of the Hindu gods that was mounted on a very heavy platform that was kept in motion. Worshipers would flock the platform and get crushed by its movement. It is not clear if they meant to die or died just from being crushed by the crowds. Somehow the word was picked up to describe a malevolent force who required sacrifice. Mr. Hyde (evil side of Dr. Jekyl) was described as a juggernaut.
Now the malevolent component has been morphed out along with the mandatory sacrifice. It just seems to mean a difficult to overcome force, a huge one.
After 3 days of rain that filled a 4 inch deep vase to the top, we have sunshine. A beautiful day for a bike ride, which I did bright and early. Shanna made an offer on a very cute house yesterday. Sadly, not in Ann Arbor but in this artificial village recently built to encourage a neighborhood feel by having front porches, lots of common land while cutting back on lot size, no garages in front, bike paths that the kids can use without being run over by a backing out car. Inside the house is nicely decorated but in very bright colors. Paint is cheap though. We took a field trip yesterday to see it. Very quiet, all we could hear were cicadas and crickets. They are close to a farmer's field. Seems to be soy beans..edaname anyone?
Turns out that the word is derived from Sanskrit describing a festival of one of the Hindu gods that was mounted on a very heavy platform that was kept in motion. Worshipers would flock the platform and get crushed by its movement. It is not clear if they meant to die or died just from being crushed by the crowds. Somehow the word was picked up to describe a malevolent force who required sacrifice. Mr. Hyde (evil side of Dr. Jekyl) was described as a juggernaut.
Now the malevolent component has been morphed out along with the mandatory sacrifice. It just seems to mean a difficult to overcome force, a huge one.
After 3 days of rain that filled a 4 inch deep vase to the top, we have sunshine. A beautiful day for a bike ride, which I did bright and early. Shanna made an offer on a very cute house yesterday. Sadly, not in Ann Arbor but in this artificial village recently built to encourage a neighborhood feel by having front porches, lots of common land while cutting back on lot size, no garages in front, bike paths that the kids can use without being run over by a backing out car. Inside the house is nicely decorated but in very bright colors. Paint is cheap though. We took a field trip yesterday to see it. Very quiet, all we could hear were cicadas and crickets. They are close to a farmer's field. Seems to be soy beans..edaname anyone?
1 comment:
This looks adorable!!
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