Insider Monickers

The other day, within the space of 48 hours, I received three emails, one from each differently-denominated friend, respectively using the terms the Theotikos, Ha-Shem, and the BVM.

The BVM  denotes the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In Greek, a.k.a. the Theotikos.

Ha-Shem (Hebrew, lit. ‘the name’, isomorphic to Arabic al-ism, though the latter is never used in this theophoric way) denotes Him otherwise alluded to by the Tetragrammaton.

The point, though, is not the referents -- anyone can refer to Jehovah or to Maryam of Palestine -- but the referring expressions, which are very much insider terms.  Basically, no one but a Catholic (or someone with proto-Catholic sympathies) would say the BVM; Theotikos is used (in English) only by the Eastern Orthodox; and Ha-Shem is for observant Jews.

Both Gary Wills (Bare Ruined Choirs) and Wilfred Sheed  have some observant things to say about insider Catholic speech (which includes insider pronunciations:  aw-GUS-tin vs. AW-gus-teen.)

Episcopalian examples:  “the ABC” (the Archbishop of Canterbury), “TEC” (sans “the”: The Episcopal Church).

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Such double-level or two-tier designators  are characteristic of any walled-off group.  Thus, in the IC, the Secretary of Defense is called SECDEF, the Director of the National Social Security Administration or whatever it’s called  is called DIRNSA, and -- my favorite -- the President is called POTUS.   (POTUS:  Et tu, Brutus?)  And there are subtleties:  Wannabees refer to “the CIA”, whereas ICers say things like “at CIA”, without the article.

I once wrote a monograph called Linguistic Life on the Left, a rhetorical analysis of American radical speech from CPUSA to RYM-II, correlating styles of expression with faction.  A telling example:  If group A describes group X as pigs, and group B describes group X as swine, you can be pretty sure that group A and group B disagree about just about everything.  (Perhaps I shall republish this someday, if I ever figure out how to sell books.)