Comments on: Why Brit Milah is Good for you and Davening can be Dangerous

By: Cathryn Vise

Cathryn Vise — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:37:22 +0000

The really good puns are the ones that lend meaning to the sentence or paragraph.

If they don’t, they must either be omitted or disavowed.

That’s my philosophy. Others may have other reasons for saying “no pun intended”.

If so, let them say why they say it.

Now how about getting back to the topic of, what, disease? Condoms? Bris?

By: David Werdiger

David Werdiger — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:08:45 +0000

I think it’s because puns are considered a low level of humour, and therefore it’s good ettiquette to “apologize” for using them.

By: pun inteded

pun inteded — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:22:23 +0000

all this discussion about grammar makes me feel like i am reading the letters page in the green guide.

By: Cathryn Vise

Cathryn Vise — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:34:16 +0000

I can’t speak for others, but when I say “no pun intended” it means I didn’t notice the pun until I saw it on the page. The pun was unplanned, but I don’t object to it, so I leave it.

That to me is very different from having planned to pun to start with.

For one thing, it means that although the pun may be cute, I am not hanging the meaning of my post on the coincidental sameness of the word or sound.

As for others, I don’t know what they mean by it.

By: frosh

frosh — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:30:17 +0000

Why do people write/say “No pun intended” when in the vast majority of times they mean “Pun fully intended”?

By: Cathryn Vise

Cathryn Vise — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:55:03 +0000

Never mind whether this study will encourage men to get circumcised.

I suppose this study will encourage women to choose circumcised bed partners.

I suppose this will be a boon to Jewish men seeking to be chosen. No pun intended.

By: Galus Australis » They Tried To Kill Us, We Survived, Let’s Overdose on Opioids

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:59:40 +0000

[...] practice are in fact good for the Jews. Previous posts in the series can be found here, here, and here. This week she puts chagim under the [...]

By: Henry Herzog

Henry Herzog — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:13:22 +0000

Yeah Abrabam, It’s really simple: Just like Jewish boys have bar-mitzah, Jews go to shul on Yom-Kippur, and eat matzos on passover they circumcise their sons. OK; been doing it for thousands of years.

By: Chaim

Chaim — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:05:54 +0000

Abraham… - like this is really your name…

You are talking about ROUTINE male infant circumcision – there is no chiddush here – everyone agrees.

It is clear that people at higher risk for contracting HIV would benefit from circumcision. Obviously people in countries with high HIV incidence e.g. in Africa will likely benefit. Those in western countries – e.g Australia, USA, Canada are unlikely to benefit.

Jews will always circumcise their sons NOT for medical reasons. If people try to ban circumcision it will go underground and lead to more complications and problems like we had with abortions. This is why it will never happen.

By: Abraham

Abraham — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:23:53 +0000

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia

Recommendation: Best medical practice includes the following standards of practice for doctors who are asked to circumcise male infants:

•      Keep up‐to‐date on the issues surrounding infant male circumcision, including the therapeutic medical indications and legal and ethical issues.

•      Advise parents that the current medical consensus is that routine infant male circumcision is not a recommended procedure; it is non‐therapeutic and has no medical prophylactic basis; it is a cosmetic surgical procedure; current evidence indicates that previously‐thought prophylactic public health benefits do not out‐weigh the potential risks.

•      Provide objective medical information about the risk of complications and potential harm in infant male circumcision.

•      Discuss the new ethical considerations of infant’s rights and proxy consent in a non‐
therapeutic procedure.

•      Listen to parents and consider the basis of their request, which may be based on religious or cultural practices.