So you think you can tell...heaven from hell...blue skies from pain...
There's a Hell, Norway (and an ancient Helvetia in what is now Switzerland).
There's also a Paradise, California. (and a Paradise, Nevada)
There is no Heaven, but there is a Heavener, on earth. (and a Loving, USA, and a 2 Lovelands -in Colorado and Ohio- and a Lovelock, USA)
So how are things in Hell, Paradise, and Loving?
Paradise
Paradise, near Chico, was recently burning, and being evacuated from the California wildfire in the area.
Hell
Hell is a village in Stjørdal, Norway with a population of 352. It has become a minor tourist attraction because of its name, since people like to take the train there to get photographed in front of the station sign. The station sign reads "Gods-expedition", an old spelling of the Norwegian word for "cargo handling" (godsekspedisjon would be the current spelling).
The name Hell stems from the Old Norse word hellir, which means "overhang", "cliff cave". The Norwegian word hell can also mean "luck". The Norwegian word for "god" is gud.
Among English-speaking tourists, one of those popular Norwegian postcards depicted the station with a heavy frost on the ground. The visual joke was that the picture showed "Hell frozen over", though there was no caption to make the point. Temperatures in Hell can reach -20°C during winter.
Mona Grudt, Miss Universe 1990, is from a small town near Hell. During the 1990 Miss Universe competition, she listed herself as "The beauty queen from Hell" as a publicity stunt.
Loving
Loving is a County in Texas. It is the least populous county in the entire United States. Its seat, and only community, is Mentone. The nearest sizable towns are Pecos, Texas, and Carlsbad, New Mexico. In 2000, its population was 67.
It seems like bad news, then. Paradise sounds like hell. The world of loving only has 67 people. At least Hell has frozen over. But that's not necessarily good either. This reminds me of that poem, Fire and Ice, by Robert Frost:
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-20 celsius is -4 degrees Fahrenheit. 32 degrees Fahrenheit is the freezing point of water. People definitely hate Hell.
Hell reminds me of the contraction for 'he will' : he'll.
And paradise, like paracletes, makes me think of a pair o' dice. (lucky sevens? snake eyes?) I'm sure that's what the Paradisians of Nevada would like you to think (gambling is legal there).
Paradise comes literally from "to make around": "The word "paradise" entered English from the French "paradis", inherited from the Latin "paradisus", which came from Greek παραδεισος (royal garden). The Greek word came from the Persian Avestan word "pairidaêza-" (an Eastern Old Iranian language) = "walled enclosure", which is a compound of pairi- (= "around") (a cognate of Greek περί peri-) and -diz (= "to create, make"), a cognate of English "dough".
So if you have the dough to buy your own enclosure/house, then you can make a paradise for yourself. And by all means, surround your house with a garden. Eden is a need. Paradise is...well, a despair. Gnosis and fire.
There's also a Paradise, California. (and a Paradise, Nevada)
There is no Heaven, but there is a Heavener, on earth. (and a Loving, USA, and a 2 Lovelands -in Colorado and Ohio- and a Lovelock, USA)
So how are things in Hell, Paradise, and Loving?
Paradise
Paradise, near Chico, was recently burning, and being evacuated from the California wildfire in the area.
Hell
Hell is a village in Stjørdal, Norway with a population of 352. It has become a minor tourist attraction because of its name, since people like to take the train there to get photographed in front of the station sign. The station sign reads "Gods-expedition", an old spelling of the Norwegian word for "cargo handling" (godsekspedisjon would be the current spelling).
The name Hell stems from the Old Norse word hellir, which means "overhang", "cliff cave". The Norwegian word hell can also mean "luck". The Norwegian word for "god" is gud.
Among English-speaking tourists, one of those popular Norwegian postcards depicted the station with a heavy frost on the ground. The visual joke was that the picture showed "Hell frozen over", though there was no caption to make the point. Temperatures in Hell can reach -20°C during winter.
Mona Grudt, Miss Universe 1990, is from a small town near Hell. During the 1990 Miss Universe competition, she listed herself as "The beauty queen from Hell" as a publicity stunt.
Loving
Loving is a County in Texas. It is the least populous county in the entire United States. Its seat, and only community, is Mentone. The nearest sizable towns are Pecos, Texas, and Carlsbad, New Mexico. In 2000, its population was 67.
It seems like bad news, then. Paradise sounds like hell. The world of loving only has 67 people. At least Hell has frozen over. But that's not necessarily good either. This reminds me of that poem, Fire and Ice, by Robert Frost:
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-20 celsius is -4 degrees Fahrenheit. 32 degrees Fahrenheit is the freezing point of water. People definitely hate Hell.
Hell reminds me of the contraction for 'he will' : he'll.
And paradise, like paracletes, makes me think of a pair o' dice. (lucky sevens? snake eyes?) I'm sure that's what the Paradisians of Nevada would like you to think (gambling is legal there).
Paradise comes literally from "to make around": "The word "paradise" entered English from the French "paradis", inherited from the Latin "paradisus", which came from Greek παραδεισος (royal garden). The Greek word came from the Persian Avestan word "pairidaêza-" (an Eastern Old Iranian language) = "walled enclosure", which is a compound of pairi- (= "around") (a cognate of Greek περί peri-) and -diz (= "to create, make"), a cognate of English "dough".
So if you have the dough to buy your own enclosure/house, then you can make a paradise for yourself. And by all means, surround your house with a garden. Eden is a need. Paradise is...well, a despair. Gnosis and fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment