Keep Those Boxes Separate

I am amazed sometimes at how dense I can be. Or more to the point, how easy it is to not allow information from one place in my life be brought to mind in another. I was reminded of this one day the other week while watching Jeopardy! The clue for Final Jeopardy!

The category was Poetic Characters and it had to do with the title character of a poem whose name came from "good news" in Greek. My wife and I sat there for the 30 seconds of "do, do, do do..." and couldn't come up with an answer. Of course neither of us are all that versed in poetry (pun intended) so we were at a loss.

Well, Alex, what's the answer?

Evangeline.

Doh!

Evangel = good news

Did I mention that my wife and I are both seminary trained pastors?

It was an excellent example, though, of how our brains don't always make connections across disciplines or thought patterns. Ask me right out what Greek word means "good news" and I could tell you in the drop of a consonant. Put it into a question about poetry where I am less aware and I am lost.

Amazing.