Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Let Heaven Ping

Announced by Archdruid Eileen

Is it just me, or have you heard a new verb in use re: email?

"I'll just ping them an email. "

It's an interesting use of that verb. Implies the speed with which it is possible to send an electronic message, without hinting at the cluttering-up of people's lives that the 75-email-chain of responses (each "looping-in" another 30-odd people "FYI") will result in.

In this increasingly time-poor society (mostly because of abovementioned use of email) maybe this is the way forward. The concept of an "arrow prayer" (ie very quick prayers for people without the time to light a tea light or find a decent pebble) could be expanded. "I'll just ping a prayer for you" could be the new equivalent.

Which gave me the idea for "Pings Ancient and Modern". A set of very short hymns for worshippers on the move. Our newly rewritten hymns include:

Ping to the Lord
Hark, the Herald Angels Ping
We'll Ping a New Song
Ping to the Lord With All of Your Heart

So I'm hoping this is gonna be a winner.  If you have any views on this, why not ping me a comment?

at 8:03 am

12 comments :

  1. Becky C8:15 am, July 28, 2015

    Ping of the Lord's goodness to tune of Take 5. Great for beaker folk on the go. Jazzes it up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eccles8:18 am, July 28, 2015

    A boring person writes:

    PING (or Packet InterNet Groper) has been around since the 1980s, as a way of testing networks - looking for a response.

    So you might think of pinging the Lord as testing Him by looking for a response. It worked for Elijah, but not the users of the Baal system.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adulcia9:08 am, July 28, 2015

      It worked for Gideon too.

      Delete
    2. Burton Dasset11:00 am, July 28, 2015

      A More exciting person writes: Actually, PING is a backronym. Somebody invented the words to fit the function.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous11:13 am, July 28, 2015

    An Old Pedant writes: I am sure that the people who use this linguistic abomination think that they are being ever so up-to-date (or "with it" or "groovy" as I believe the youngsters say), but in reality the word ping dates from the 19th century and is simply onomatopoeic shorthand for "an abrupt, high-pitched ringing sound". {source: OED, and you can't get more authoritative than that.]

    Just think: Queen Victoria might have used it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dan Dean10:53 pm, July 28, 2015

      Partly on account of a name-coining feature on an early morning radio programme in the 1970s, a significant proportion of the Welsh-speaking population refers to its microwave oven not by a slavishly literal translation of the English nomenclature, but as a popty ping ("ping oven") despite so few of them now having an authentic ping.

      Delete
  4. HJP1:50 pm, July 28, 2015

    We sang a song at Songsters last week that had a line in it about Facebook and Twitter. First time I have referenced social media in a church anthem.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HJP2:01 pm, July 28, 2015

    As for titles worthy of inclusion in Pings Ancient And Modern Rebooted, may I suggest:
    As the keyer pings for the router
    Ping out my soul
    We three pings from orient are
    Let Angels and Archangels Ping
    The Server Ping (from heav'n you came)
    O Jesus Ping Most Wonderful

    and that old Salvation Army classic, Send The Firewall

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chris10:47 pm, July 28, 2015

    Let all the world in every corner ping ... (This is, of course, already true)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steve Borthwick12:42 pm, July 29, 2015

    All I got was "ping request could not find host" :) must be a DNS problem...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mike Peatman4:35 pm, August 01, 2015

    Just don't go Pingin' in the Rain

    ReplyDelete

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