Site Search:
 
Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

What is this definition...............................
Goto page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
senor boogie woogie



Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 676
Location: Beautiful Hangzhou China

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 10:03 am    Post subject: What is this definition............................... Reply with quote

I would like to know the definition of a political group, society or group of persons who love and worship money. The ideal that getting rich is the first priority. To trekkies, the Ferengis are like this.

My Chinese friend says the word is called "memmonism", but I cannot find this word in dictionary.com.

My wife who is Chinese is a worshipper of money, and I want to Photoshop a 100 RMB bill with her face on it with the top reading "The Empire of China", and the bottom "In wealth we only trust" both in Chinese characters, with her picture as a regal queen over Mao's portrait.

Yes, its weird, but to me, its a hoot. If anyone can give me the definition, please respond.

SENOR
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Kent F. Kruhoeffer



Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2129
Location: 中国

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 10:12 am    Post subject: "mammonism" Reply with quote

Dear Senor Cool

You were very close. This word has its origins in the New Testament, and is spelled "mammonism". Below, the definition you were looking for.

Mammonism (n.) n.
1. Devotion to the pursuit of wealth; worldliness.

And from Wordsmyth.net, a slightly different variation on the same theme:

Definition 1. in the New Testament, material wealth personified as a false idol.
Definition 2. material wealth regarded as an object of adoration.

And the etymology, courtesy of http://www.geocities.com/etymonline/index.html

mammon - c.1390, from L.L. mammona, from Gk. mammonas, from Aramaic mamona, mamon "riches, gain," regarded mistakenly by medieval Christians as the name of a demon.


Regards,
kenT


Last edited by Kent F. Kruhoeffer on Tue Apr 01, 2003 11:25 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 10:46 am    Post subject: spondulixosis Reply with quote

Mammonism is widespread amongst the TEFL community in the Middle East. Some of these people here devote every waking hour tro the pursuit and worship of the almighty buck, or riyal, euro, dirham or pound.

BUT I see others here who seem determined to leave as poor as when they arrived. How do I find the middle ground ?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 10:55 am    Post subject: Directions Reply with quote

Dear scot 47,
Ah, grasshopper - the middle ground is easy to discover. You'll find it exactly half-way between the two extremes. Must go now; I have to listen to the sound of one hand clapping.
Regards,
John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 10:59 am    Post subject: smartass Reply with quote

I should know by now that I can always rely on our man in Riyadh to come up with a smart*** answer !
But seriously when in the Middle East there ius always that question " How much is enough?" How much do I have to save to give up this EFLing business ? Can I afford to spend two riyals for today's paper ? Or should I put the money in the bank ?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 11:14 am    Post subject: Never enough Reply with quote

Dear scot47,
Well, all of us Riyadhians are smart*****, you know. It's one of the requirements for a posting here. " How much is enough"? Here's a simple answer to that: There is no such thing as enough money. Just ask Bill Gates if he has " enough ". Besides, trying to plan in too much detail for the future is a frustration trap; the future seems to delight in screwing up all our well-laid plans. You save as much as you can without denying yourself the small pleasures that make life tolerable ( or nearly so, anyway ) here - in my case, books, M&Ms and cigarettes - and then you hope and pray that what you've accumulated will suffice. But I'd say there's simply no foolproof way to ensure that one's future will be financially secure.
Regards,
John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 6:42 pm    Post subject: moolah Reply with quote

Well money is a strange substance. Certainly there is NEVER enough, but we can pretend there is. What amazes me in Saudi are the people I meet who live miserable lives of frugality, so that one day they will have enough. Of course they never do.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2003 3:07 am    Post subject: Why teaching? Reply with quote

Dear scot47,
What puzzles me is why those people, who " live miserable lives of frugality ", people for whom money is of such great importance, ever go into teaching in the first place. Surely they must have known that it's not the royal road to riches.
Regards,
John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2003 6:02 am    Post subject: rational Reply with quote

John you are making the BIG mistake of obervers of humanity. You cannot assume that people behave rationally. Most people do not - or at least not often. This was the basic fallacy behind all of the philosophy of the Enlightenment and beyond.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2003 8:30 am    Post subject: So much for diplomacy Reply with quote

Dear scot47,
Surely you can't imagine that I could spend almost 19 years in the Kingdom without getting an inkling that people don't always - HA, rarely - act rationally? But. since I'm a kind, considerate, gentle soul, I avoided writing that people who have money as a prime and consuming objective and yet still become teachers are, not to put too fine a point on it, as dumb as dirt ( which may, actually, be insulting dirt ). Well, yet another proof that diplomacy doesn't work ( Secretary Powell, please take note ).
Regards,
John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
arioch36



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589

PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2003 5:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If what you have now is not enough, you will never have enough.
That said, I did my time in Kuwait, made enough to buy a new car (of course, in Kuwait all the boys will laugh, becaue they will al get a new car, and never have to work for it). I sold the new car three years ago, and am quite happy working for peanuts, uh RMB, in China.
That said, I am tempted to go back there for one year to pay off my house and school loans. Nah, rather work for peanuts. Money grows on trees, you know.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Alobar



Joined: 04 Apr 2003
Posts: 28
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2003 10:46 pm    Post subject: Re: rational Reply with quote

scot47 wrote:
John you are making the BIG mistake of obervers of humanity. You cannot assume that people behave rationally. Most people do not - or at least not often. This was the basic fallacy behind all of the philosophy of the Enlightenment and beyond.


I disagree. People always act rationally, in that they do what it takes to get what they want. Figuring out what they actually want is the tricky part. Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Yahoo Messenger
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2003 4:02 am    Post subject: What is rational? Reply with quote

Dear Alobar,
Much as I hate to disagree with someone who disagreed with someone who wrote I was making a BIG mistake ( Me? Make a mistake? Pshaw! ),
I'm afraid I have to dispute your statement that, " People always act rationally . . . ". I concur that people will ( almost - want to avoid a generalization here ) always do whatever they THINK is going to make them happy/happier, but that can cover a range of behavior running from addiction to self-sacrifice. And, in effect, what you are saying is that ALL behavior is " rational ". Well, we have different definitions of " rational ", then. And, it seems to me that your definition, by its total inclusiveness, makes the word meaningless. But hey - I COULD be " mistaken ".
Regards,
John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
arioch36



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2003 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, there is objective rational an subjective rational.

Everything is rational to the person who does it. They just don't understant their rational for their behaviour. Once they understand their rational, they often begin to realize it is not rational.

But of course, then it is usually too late to change their behaviour, because it has become a habit. So then it is entirely rational for them to develop an irrational logic to justify their rational
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
reality



Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Posts: 105

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2003 9:35 pm    Post subject: Welcome to the New Economy Reply with quote

Its sad, but to most people in the World, money is king. It pays for an Education, a stressless old age, care if you are sick, and gives you chance to enjoy life and travel.

Nowadays, even European Countries are money obsessed like the USA and the developing World. Education isn�t free anymore, without an education, you can�t get a decent job. Gone are the days of retiring on a decent Governmental pension, or getting good State medicare.

I understand why expats in the Middle east are money obsessed, and your chinese wife. They are worried, that time will pass them by, and they will end up broke, in the New Economy.

Lets get real, every Country has rich and poor people. The simple fact is, the majority of us would prefer to have money, and not the insecurity of poverty.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion All times are GMT
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

Teaching Jobs in China
Teaching Jobs in China