Why do GAs always say 'even?' as in..jesus is the christ, "even" the son of god. Why do GAs always do this!? elder packer just used 'even.'

When my dad was the bishop, he'd use 'even' in his prayers as in, 'we thank thee for giving us a prophet, even Gordon B. Hinckley'.

"Thanks for the prophet, even that Hinckley guy." That's how I always thought of it. Kind of derogatory. It helped pass the time listening to conference talks.

They do it in the name of their god, and for the christian minded, EVEN (oh yeah, and also) Jesus Christ.

I'm a PuhD in English Lit. and my sense is that it's used for emphasis, like "very" or "really" or "quite." Somehow though it has gotten this place in English word order that it can retain a sort of pseudo-religious solemnity (on full boring review in Salt Lake this weekend).

"Even" is a complicated word grammatically because it can serve more than one function: verb, adverb, adjective.

This site nails it for us exmos interested in churchy rhetoric:
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?theme=mag&catid=60034&docid=156431

"The third use of even is to add a more extreme word or phrase to emphasize what you have just said and may be used in different positions for extra emphasis, e.g. His latest film is very good, even brilliant or His latest film is very good – brilliant, even."

derrida Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm a PuhD in English Lit. and my sense is that
> it's used for emphasis, like "very" or "really" or
> "quite." Somehow though it has gotten this place
> in English word order that it can retain a sort of
> pseudo-religious solemnity (on full boring review
> in Salt Lake this weekend).
>
> "Even" is a complicated word grammatically because
> it can serve more than one function: verb, adverb,
> adjective.
>
> This site nails it for us exmos interested in
> churchy rhetoric:
> http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?theme=ma
> g&catid=60034&docid=156431
>
> "The third use of even is to add a more extreme
> word or phrase to emphasize what you have just
> said and may be used in different positions for
> extra emphasis, e.g. His latest film is very good,
> even brilliant or His latest film is very good –
> brilliant, even."


Do you think they would speak in 17th century English just to make them sound authorative?

As you will know, 'even' is an interesting morpheme, but in this case, it is just used as a way of saying "I am the big I am, I am"!

17th century Elizabethan English instead of the English of his day?

It's a wonder they aren't wearing togas.

When the message is empty, it helps to dress up the language.

...as well as LDS middle managers *aspiring* to be GAs, or those ward members aspiring to appear 'spiritual' to the rest of the ward.

I have no recollection of hearing the word "even" used in this way by any Mormons whom I considered to be humble, sincere believers.

That's always bugged me. Another pet peeve of mine is how often they use phrases like, "What a wonderful opportunity this is to learn the gospel." WTF would you construct a plain statement as an interrogative? Whenever I hear people use a phrase like that, my bullPacker detector starts to go off.

If Monson started saying, "In the name of freakin Jesus Christ amen" then it would only take a few go arounds before the others would too.

Imitating the powerful is how to climb the ladder. Their is a distinct "conference cadence" that the big guys use when speaking in front members in meetings. They all pick it up to show that they are one of the group.

It would be interesting to see who was the first "even" person, and how long ago they started it.

YES! I know the cadence you mean. It drives me nuts! But have you noticed, the cadence is more of a Seventy thing. The apostles are actually more individualistic I think. But all the underlings do the monotone cadence thing.

its used to make them sound more authoritative. They do this type of stuff all the time.

It's a stupid affectation.

I recently heard a lecture by an expert on raptors who kept saying: "on that side" every-so-often. I don't think he realised he was doing it!

I hope I listended correctly to his talk, but it seems to me that at least Dieter F. Uchtdorf did NOT say "even"!